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She may have worked with Courtney Love playing keys in Hole, or alongside bands such as Radiohead and Depeche Mode while stationed in the studio with legendary producer Nigel Godrich, but it’s Bethia Beadman’s output as a solo artist that truly astonishes the senses.
The 11 tracks that make up new album, Kitten Feel, have a hypnotising effect. Think swampy primal energy and artful enigma, beaming into the soul like an abstract blues from a long-distant planet where the language is familiar but the message is curiously esoteric…
In other words, it’s the perfect marriage of hippie soul and spine-tingling atmospherics, and it looks set to be one of the alternative rock highlights of the year.
Sanskrit Roots
Bethia would be the first to admit her journey into guitar was more leftfield than most players.
“I got into guitar-playing through Sanskrit and mantra,” she says. “You have to go deep to find your voice without much thought. It’s like finding this place that’s so deeply buried, there’s no music.
“I don’t want to sound like a wanker, but I’m more of a mystic than a musician. I move in energy fields. When I saw Roy Harper at Glastonbury, I cried because his music is non-performative. It’s real and in the room, while also being healing.”
No Bounds
As a result of this creative background, Bethia’s approach is more natural and impulsive than a lot of her contemporaries, though artists such as Marianne Faithfull and Scott Walker helped show her the way.
“It’s like I have a sack of songs that just goes on,” she says. “I can’t necessarily control what they are. It’s like a cat bringing in a dead bird and leaving it on the mat. I try to live inside my music, it’s almost the greater reality, and getting to work with Tchad Blake [The Black Keys, Fiona Apple, Tom Waits] on the mix gave it all ultra-vision.”
Come Together
The initial sessions took place in Detroit before Bethia came back and finished recording at the Lightship 95 vessel studio moored in East London.
“The Detroit sessions were done spontaneously in five days,” she says. “We, producer Paul Simm and I, found this drummer called Adam Bradley Schreiber on Instagram. We didn’t know him, but he was a perfect fit.
“I play baritones and Adam tunes his drums down a 4th, like baritone drums. We were all about limitations and simplicity. Bass wasn’t needed because we had swampy guitars and deep drums covered in shammies.”
Baritone Bliss
One of the main guitars heard on the album is a Reverend electric baritone guitar kindly lent by Detroit thereminist/composer Via Mardot.
“It’s the perfect electric baritone,” says Bethia. “It’s so easy to play and sweet sounding. You can really hear it on the song Balcony.
“For the sessions in London, I used my Brook Tavy baritone acoustic, which was handmade in Exeter, and a Japanese Jazzmaster that I customised into a baritone. The electrics were plugged into my 1965 Gibson Explorer combo, which I love for its simplicity and tremolo circuit.”
A Simple Reason
Bethia has many reasons to be proud of this latest body of work, though it’s Balcony that tops the list in terms of personal achievements.
“That one has so many chords,” she says with a laugh. “I’m usually suspicious of songs like that. It was my least favourite initially. Generally, I prefer fewer chords, like Wicked Game by Chris Isaak.
“With fewer chords, the melody gets starved of its senses like a nursery rhyme. I like simplicity. That’s why nursery rhymes and mantras have survived so many years. They touch this collective place we all have inside of us.”
Bethia on using less gear over the years
Although she’s built up quite a sizable collection of stompboxes over the years, Bethia doesn’t feel the need to use them as much these days.
“I still have all the Boss ones I bought during my teens,” she says. “These days, I’m more about finding a good amp sound and keeping things simple. It’s mainly my Boss distortion and compression. We used a real Space Echo on this album.
“It sounds awesome and I ended up buying my own back in London, but maybe I should’ve just bought the new RE-2 pedal version because it’s supposed to be amazing and is bound to be more roadworthy!”
