The Beths | Jump Rope Gazers (CD)
The Beths hail from the vibrant and deeply collaborative music community of Auckland, New Zealand. Lead vocalist and guitarist Elizabeth Stokes met guitarist Jonathan Pearce and bassist Benjamin Sinclair while they were all in bands in high school. While playing underground gigs around Auckland, they befriended drummer Tristan Deck, who joined the group in 2019. Their blend of propulsive, sing-along choruses, four-part vocal arrangements, and wry, introspective lyrics has earned them fans around the world, as well as opening slots for indie rock titans like The Breeders, Pixies, Weezer, and Death Cab for Cutie.
After putting out their first EP Warm Blood in 2016, The Beths signed to Carpark Records, who issued their 2018 debut album Future Me Hates Me. The record’s irresistible pop rock hooks drew acclaim from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, NPR, Stereogum, the A.V. Club, and a host of other publications, many of whom listed Future Me Hates Me among their favorite LPs of 2018. The album also made the shortlist for New Zealand’s 2018 Taite Music Prize, and Stokes has twice been nominated for the Silver Scroll Award, New Zealand’s most prestigious songwriting honor. In 2019, The Beths were nominated for five Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards, winning Best Group and Best Alternative Artist.
After touring the northern hemisphere for a year and a half in 2018 and 2019, The Beths regrouped to write and record their second album, Jump Rope Gazers, a sparkling collection of songs that deepens and expands the bright talent they showed on their early releases. Bonds between the band members only grew after spending so much time on the road together, and their camaraderie shows on their new work. Recorded and produced by Pearce in his Auckland studio, Jump Rope Gazers will be released by Carpark in 2020, a year that promises to bring The Beths’ delightful music to even more new listeners.
Jump Rope Gazers on CD.
Track list:
1. I'm Not Getting Excited
2. Dying to Believe
3. Jump Rope Gazers
4. Acrid
5. Do You Want Me Now
6. Out of Sight
7. Don't Go Away
8. Mars, the God of War
9. You Are a Beam of Light
10. Just Shy of Sure