PHIL BEAUMONT
The Color Forty Nine reveals something of a group of local all-stars, albeit ones who’ve been historically underrated. Made up of members of Black Heart Procession, little white teeth, The Album Leaf, System’s Officer and the John Meeks Band, the quartet brings decades worth of experience to the table.
That being stated, it’s easy to assume that these guys were really ready to cut loose and jam. On the contrary, the band’s debut EP is likely one of the more tight and restrained local releases I’ve heard in a while. What’s more, it’s unlikely that listeners will find it to be immediately accessible. That’s not to imply that frontman Phil Beaumont’s voice isn’t somnolent and worn down in all the right ways or that the musicianship isn’t top notch. Rather, the record works its way inside the listener over repeated listens.
If there’s a thematic element that ties the EP together, I suppose it can be seen as both a lament and a testament to aging; a vulnerably honest reflection on the traps we continue to fall into despite becoming older and wiser. This is no more evident than on the opening track, “I Will,” a tender ballad that begins with Beaumont singing, “Well, I will strive to be all that you would hope for/I will sometimes be all that and more.” With a grizzled baritone, Beaumont then launches into a list of troubles that lay ahead for him and his lover while also managing to make a dutifully strummed baritone ukulele sound dark AF. As always, Matt Resovich—one of San Diego’s most precious musical treasures—sends the song into a the stratosphere when his violin kicks in.
The darkness continues over the course of six more songs. Even when Beaumont takes a lighter touch with his voice and lyrics—such as on “Storyteller”— the songs still unfold at a meditative pace. The closing track, “Side of the Road,” spirals into something of a droning mesh of beautiful noises, with the rhythm section (drummer John Meeks and bassist Jason Hooper) the only thing keeping the track grounded. I wish this track had gone on forever.
In fact, that would be my only minor criticism. These are songs that I feel would have been better served with further expansion and a lengthier running time than the standard three-to-five minutes per song. But it’s a small gripe, because just as their name invokes images of miners from a bygone era, there is gold to be found in the songs of The Color Forty Nine. The listener will be rewarded if they choose to wade through some murky waters with them in order to find it.