When you squint onerous sufficient on the paper in entrance of Elizabeth Stokes, you may discover an encouraging notice she wrote to herself: Breathe. Chill out. Smile. (adopted by a hand-drawn smiley face, after all). We get it: The Tiny Desk is filmed in broad daylight, at eye stage, in entrance of NPR staff and, finally, is launched to “the within of your pc.” A small reminder helps.
The factor about The Beths, nevertheless, is that you would be able to hear the assist and camaraderie of its 4 members all through the band’s fuzzy-yet-sparkling indie pop — not simply in how they dryly joke with one another however in how their preparations uplift each other. Take, as an example, “Professional in a Dying Discipline” (from, as Stokes tells us, the album Professional in a Dying Discipline) when the full-band concord kicks in to repeat and emphasize Stokes’ existential query concerning the altering of instances. Or on “Bounce Rope Gazers” (from, as Stokes once more tells us, the album Bounce Rope Gazers) as she sheepishly however charmingly declares, “I feel I like you” to a particular somebody, and Benjamin Sinclair’s clarinet curlicues act because the mirrored response.
The New Zealanders additionally provide quieter variations of “Out of Sight” and “When You Know You Know.” The previous, specifically, is remodeled from a loud, shoegazing dream to Burt Bacharach-ian smooth rock, instantly turning into my new favourite Beths music; it occurs to shut with an ideal summation of the band’s empathetic approach of being: “I maintain a flame burning inside / If it is advisable to bum a light-weight.”
SET LIST
- “Professional in a Dying Discipline”
- “Bounce Rope Gazers”
- “Out of Sight”
- “When You Know You Know”
MUSICIANS
- Elizabeth Stokes: vocals, guitar
- Jon Pearce: guitar, piano, vocals
- Benjamin Sinclair: bass, clarinet, vocals
- Tristan Deck: drums, glockenspiel, vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Bob Boilen
- Director/Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
- Audio Combine: Josh Rogosin
- Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Body, Sofia Seidel
- Audio Assistant: Josephine Nyouani
- Manufacturing Assistant: Jill Britton
- Tiny Desk Workforce: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Pilar Galván
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
- Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
