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Beak> – “Allé Sauvage”

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Beak> is the groovy minimal drone-rock project of Geoff Barrow, who’s better known for his classic work with Portishead and for making those awesome alien noises in Annihilation. If you’re into the kind of thing they do, there’s hardly anyone better at it: glowing analog synth sounds, haunting negative space, the kind of hypnotic repetition that can take you on a journey through the cosmos if you’re tuned in just right. Their last album, the cult classic >>, came out in 2012, but they’ve kept busy with soundtracks, one-off singles, and a rarities comp since then. Their latest is a new song called “Allé Sauvage,” released with a trippy live video today.

“Allé Sauvage” glides along a repeated synth arpeggio, slowly picking up momentum as it goes. Unlike another recent Beak> single, the poppier “Sex Music,” this one features none of Barrow’s ghostly vocals. It might be the closest they’ve ever gotten to just making live-band techno. (It was apparently inspired by a James Holden track, which makes sense.) If you’re into Holden or stuff like Factory Floor but have never delved into this band,  “Allé Sauvage” would make an appealing starting point. According to Stereogum, it comes from an upcoming new album, but no additional info about the album has been made public. They’ve also announced tour dates, including some relatively rare U.S. appearances. Hear “Allé Sauvage” below and see the dates after that.

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