Ben McElroy - Beacons Of The Wilderness (2023)

McElroy’s latest release, Beacons of the Wilderness, opens with haunting birdsong accompanied by atmospheric strings and a spoken narration. The song is about ‘the feeling that something has been lost,’ it’s a deliberately fuzzy opener to an evocatively curated and wonderfully weird album.

‘Bleating’, which is about how there are too many sheep in the UK, is almost cinematic, with sweeping strings and evocative clarinet conjuring a disconcerting folk-horror mood. ‘We Wandered Through the Memory’ on the other hand is a warm and dreamy nostalgic slice of 70s folksong.

‘Where We Don’t Go’ is a self-proclaimed grump, but in its delivery is a delightfully humorous and strangely theatrical little song. McElroy’s occasionally ethereal, occasionally ageless, vocals provide a sweet and sprightly travelling companion. ‘A Lore Unto Herself’ features samples from the documentary She Who Saved the Stories about the folklore collector Ella Mary Leather (1874-1928). McElroy cleverly blends archival recordings, synth, and live instruments in a collaboration which balances past, present and future.

The album closes with a dark and brooding spoken word piece, ‘Stinkhorn’, which perhaps unsurprisingly, is about mushrooms. Or maybe it’s not. Unsettling, enchanting, and downright odd, Beacons of the Wilderness proves a deliciously eccentric winner.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Ben McElroy - Beacons of the Wilderness (6:01)
1.02 - Ben McElroy - We Wandered Through the Memory (4:46)
1.03 - Ben McElroy - Bleating (5:24)
1.04 - Ben McElroy - Where We Don't Go (4:37)
1.05 - Ben McElroy - They Started Falling Like Rain (4:30)
1.06 - Ben McElroy - A Lore Unto Herself (3:58)
1.07 - Ben McElroy - Hitherto Cadaver/Seeds (5:36)
1.08 - Ben McElroy - Stinkhorn (3:35)