On his fifth LP, Big Black Plume, Melbourne-based and Californian-born musician Michael Beach reveals the vitalising power of connection in an often hostile world. Equally informed by the songwriting of Bill Fay and Peter Laughner, the minimalism of Tony Conrad and Terry Riley, Big Black Plume provides deliberate compositions adorned with genuine madness. The songs on this album range from spare, textural ballads, to spiraling psychedelic overtures connected to a propulsive cosmic pulse.

Building on Beach’s network from over 20 years of touring, engineering, and production work (in Melbourne, SF, and LA), and employment in independent touring venues, Big Black Plume features contributions from a murderers’ row of talent. Produced by Beach and Gareth Liddiard (The Drones), the record includes Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner, The Necks bassist Lloyd Swanton, Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin, folk artist Leah Senior, Oren Ambarchi collaborator Joe Talia, and Comets on Fire’s Utrillo Kushner, among others.

Beach is a masterful songwriter – he writes songs as seen from 10,000 feet, from 6 feet under – from every angle. The songs here aren’t stick-and-poke songs that will dry and fade on the skin, aimless prayers for jams; Beach has been making deliberate things for decades. Big Black Plume is a record about connections, mercurially curated, transforming individual contributions into something strikingly communal.

For the last decade, Beach has called Melbourne home, a city that knows the power of community, in myriad small venues like The Tote and The Old Bar, in community radio stations like RRR and PBS, in countless independent bands playing all genres every night, untouched by heavy industry.

We welcome him to this special show in Sydney in very much the same spirit… don’t miss this one!

MICHAEL’S SHOW IS BROUGHT TO US
BY THE EXCELLENT PEOPLE AT FEEL PRESENTS!