Beulah: The Coast Is Never Clear : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Tags like "low-fi" and "indie rock" often get attached to able but economically challenged craftsmen who are struggling to attain classic-pop sophistication. Along with Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel, San Francisco's Beulah are graduates of psychedelica-revivalist label Elephant 6. Like their retro-minded peers, Beulah strive for a Beach Boys-Love-Beatles synthesis, but they set themselves apart on their third album, giving their delicate, large-ensemble arrangements the studio coddling they deserve. This doesn't stop the band's ever-changing lineup from celebrating a punk-rock girl in "Silver Lining" - even if they add jovial hand claps and horns to the requisite guitar roar. Beulah avoid the bottom-heavy and embrace the light: Violins, flutes, trumpets and various vintage keyboards pump up the treble throughout with a twee appeal. Miles Kurosky's limited vocal range keeps the effervescent melodies earthbound, but the band's ambitious instrumentation reaches for the stars.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 881- November 8, 2001)