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.
Maria Elena Silva
Silva released Eros (ft Jeff Parker) in 2021 on BIG EGO Records with producer Chris Schlarb. Her sophomore album, Dulce, was released in 2023 as a BIG EGO and Astral Spirits co-release. Dulce features avant-pop guitar legend Marc Ribot, and Silva’s long-time drummer Scott Dean Taylor. Silva’s music lives in suspension: percolating and swirling with energy and detail, with a delicacy and fluid sense of time throughout. Lyrically, she manages to be both otherworldly and confessional. Silva’s guitar provides a concise, elegant skeleton expertly fleshed out by the band.
RAYS
A group of Chicago music scenesters, RAYS finds Skyler Rowe (vibraphone), Jake Acosta (guitar), Andrew Scott Young (bass), and Brian J Sulpizio (drums) in familiar company but unfamiliar territory. Exploring Young’s original music alongside the 1970’s outputs of folks like John Scofield and Chick Corea, one finds the musicians—all of whom have played together with the likes of Ryley Walker, Health&Beauty, Famous Laughs, Mute Duo, and more—finding new ways to communicate while grappling with music that is both familiar and foreign, near and far, personal and impartial. The quartet weaves a special world in its approach to this music; one that is definitely worth a visit.