BEAMS with Maria Elena Silva and RAYS

Beams is a Toronto-based psychedelic folk band whose sound has evolved through a stylistic progression encompassing aspects of several genres while retaining a strong identity and never chasing trends. Their unique harmonization of female voices, sonically levitating vibraphone, warm purring amps, and shimmering banjo have earned them comparisons to artists ranging from Wilco, Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush, to Big Thief, Waxahatchee, and Kevin Morby.

Throughout their career, they’ve recorded with luminaries such as Peter J. Moore (Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Sessions) and Chicago Post-Rock pioneer John McEntire (Tortoise, Stereolab) and have shared the stage with the Sea & Cake, Widowspeak, The Sadies and Shannon Shaw. 

Their new album Requiem for a Planet, Recorded by Kevin S. McMahon (Swans, Real Estate, Titus Andronicus) at Marcata Recording—a 200-year-old barn at the base of the Shawangunk mountains in New Paltz, NY— is a world unto itself. Described succinctly as “a hike along Grief Mountain with scenic lookouts,” Requiem stakes out new sonic territory for the band, while still thematically exploring both the darkness and light of the places we find ourselves.