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“Leb Off” by The Bevis Frond–Single Review

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  • Brian Kuhar
  • January 7, 2024
  • 1:26 pm

“Leb Off” by The Bevis Frond–Single Review

“Leb Off” with the B side “Brocadine” is the newly released single by The Bevis Frond from the forthcoming album Focus on Nature (releasing March 1). As always, the Bevis Frond is fronted by visionary psychedelic revivalist Nick Saloman. Long gone are the early days of Saloman producing four-track recordings as a solitary effort in his London bedroom. Since the early Nineties, the Bevis Frond has been a group affair in a proper studio.

According to Saloman, “Leb off” is an old post-war British term short for “London Electricity Board Off.” It was painted on derelict houses as a warning to squatters that there was no running electricity in the home. The lyrics based on this idea are a slice of English observational pop that only Nick Saloman knows how to provide. Beginning with sound effects of trotting horse and calliopes, one is harkened back to the heady days of the Beatles raiding the EMI sound library for “Good Morning,” and George Martin working his magic to splice together carnival organs for “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” Once the music begins though is where the similarity ends. As a superfan of the early DIY Frond albums, I find the straightforward pop acoustic guitar strumming an about-face for the band. Sure, Saloman has loads of acoustic lead tracks throughout the decades of Bevis Frond’s existence, but the gritty guitars are so far in the background that the listener is left with a feeling of musical sterility.

Nick Saloman sitting on a log among trees

Anete Lapsa

The flip side, “Brocadine”, jumps down the rabbit hole of British acoustic folk musings. The layers of guitar tracks and gentle finger-picking of Saloman show that he still has quite a bit of instrumental talent in those hands. There’s a droning in the background that is probably an electric guitar but could just as well be a hurdy-gurdy to lend a more authentic nature to this quick pastoral number. The song is a scant 2:10, but the melody will stick with you.

The previously released single “Focus on Nature” is a bit more reminiscent of the older Bevis Frond. His somewhat subdued electric guitar soloing is at the forefront of that track and is bracketed by harmonized choruses. 2021’s Little Eden proved there was still some grit and drive in the music but based on the three released tracks from Focus on Nature, I’m unsure whether I can expect the consistently incendiary Hendrixian guitar work that I crave from Nick Saloman and the Bevis Frond. The Auntie Winnie Album, Miasma, and Inner Marshland were as often played in my house as Piper at the Gates of Dawn, In Search of the Lost Chord, and Are You Experienced? While I do look forward to hearing the full album upon release, it seems as though it will be quite a polished affair of tightly arranged, acoustic-driven pop tunes rather than blistering guitar solos and delayed organs that made me fall in love with the Bevis Frond’s mid-eighties beginnings.

 

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