As the days, months, and years go by, skills sharpen with a whole lot of care and a little bit of elbow grease. After a decade-plus together, Beta Radio continue to diligently tinker and tighten their craft. The Wilmington, NC duo—Ben Mabry and Brent Holloman—artfully and carefully piece together songs with an architect’s attention to detail and a carpenter’s work ethic. This handcrafted assembly shines through a series of singles and the group’s 2020 EP, Way of Love [NETTWERK]
Following the acoustic All Remains EP, Ben and Brent fluidly assembled new music over the course of 2020. Working out of their Wilmington studio, Brent implemented a newfound passion for music theory into the process as he focused on “using chords as a vehicle to take you somewhere.”
At the same time, they broke from the traditional structure by releasing music as it came together rather than waiting to finish a full project.
Today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the the duo’s new EP. From opening track “Way of Love,” which is brimming with bright horns and twangy steel guitar to complement the heartfelt, warming vocals and rich harmonies, there is a sense of optimism in the music. The duo’s shimmering folksy Americana can be heard in “Destined To Pretend” as they craft a warm sonic backdrop from arpeggiated synth and strings as delicately plucked acoustic guitar upholds lilting vocals while meditating simultaneously on themes of hope and pain. “May Way” is an intimate acoustic and piano instrumental number that feels cinematic in an emotionally impactful way, while EP closer captures the strange feeling of one of the world’s strangest times through a prism of synthesizer and guitar while also being the duo’s deepest dive into the spectrum of pop.
Ben Mabry describes the inspiration and process behind the album:
“The Way of Love EP is our mirror of 2020 so far. The title track weaves through the landscapes of heartache, but heartache that leads to awareness, and awareness that leads to self-love. It’s really kind of wild because this is the first time we’ve written a record without a specific theme in mind, that is a thoroughfare through the songs of the record. But it feels as if these songs belong together more than any we’ve ever recorded.”
“The title track is a song that we’ve been playing with for years. It was one of the first we began recording for our last full-length, Ancient Transition, but ultimately it didn’t make the cut. We’ve always loved it though. It’s constantly changing time signatures and slinging you into changes in the song. I was having a hard time working out the lyrics to this song, so one day I drove over to my old childhood home. I walked around the neighborhood and felt these old feelings that I hadn’t in years. And that’s all it took, the song was mostly finished that night. Also, the drums were recorded by one of our favorite drummers, Bryan Devendorf from the National, and the horns by CJ Camerieri, frequent collaborator of Bon Iver.”
LISTEN:
