Sam Beam returns with his sixth album and it finds him returning to his earlier sound where the music is stripped back, relatively unadorned and existing in it’s own unhurried world.

By recording live, with minimal overdubs, Beam has ensured the focus is on a clear and detailed presentation of the songs, his warm and lilting melodies and the beautiful organic interplay between the instruments. Beam sings of the trials, tribulations and revelations of figuring out ones place as an adult in the modern world.

Beast Epic is quite the opposite of its title, instead it is an intimate, pastoral and devotional collection of beguiling songs.

Chris Familton