The Beans
Bassplayer
Intr Version

The Beans' debut for Mitchell Akiyama's Intr Version imprint focuses on a decidedly atmospheric post-rock formula, where acoustic guitars, minimal snare rudiments, and electronic shards and textures lay scattered amidst spacious layers of sound. Bassplayer is cerebral and cinematic, though notably more subdued than the grandiose output of their Canadian countrymen Godspeed You! Black Emperor, to whom they are often compared. "My Love is a Rhinestone" is easily the album's highlight; a song that builds from the murky depths of melancholia toward an absolutely blissful conclusion, akin to waking up from an unnerving dream and realizing you're lying in a sun-drenched field of flowers. (CJN)