With their debut EP, ‘Nothing,’ Birmingham quintet Beaumont provide an addictive collection of melodic rock with ‘Boys and Girls’ and ‘Art School’ coming across as boisterous and upbeat. However if you look underneath the surface, it is an EP tinged in sadness, regret and disappointment.
As they prepare to release ‘Nothing’ next week, front man Spencer Edmonds penned this explanation about Beaumont’s motives and why the EP is drenched in misery.
As a band we’ve always listened to sad music – I myself have spent months listening exclusively to bands like The Smiths, Xiu Xiu and Joy Division. When we formed our goal was to write upbeat songs with sad lyrics and I think that’s what we’ve achieved.
We come from, and formed in, a miserable, grey and run down part of Birmingham called Digbeth – there’s not much going on, it’s economically deprived and there’s not much opportunity for young people. The majority of people with a good education move out of the city to find good jobs in London.
We ourselves formed the band as a way to talk about how we’re feeling and as a way to see new places and meet new people who feel the same. Like most people our age, we’re lost and don’t have much to be happy about, nothing to look forward to and no prospects.
We think our whole generation feels some sort of sadness pulling them down, but we are aware that the misery makes us who we are as people and that seems to come through in our music. We’re anxious about the future – all we know is that we’re releasing some music soon in hope of something else and I’m not sure why.
‘Nothing’ EP by Beaumont is released on May 2nd on Reclaim Music.
