Hidden Beams

Psychedelic elements in alternative folk/rock have become an increasingly common feature among some of the genre’s smartest indie releases in 2020, and for a good example of what I’m talking about, I would recommend taking a peek at the new single “Hidden.” 

Released alongside a disturbingly entrancing music video, “Hidden” sports quite the cerebral song structure, but at its core, the bones of the material here are steeped far more in traditional American folk/rock than they are anything else. Even with this being the case, listeners can look to Hidden Beams for a very provocative listen in his second official single, currently out everywhere superb indie rock is sold and streamed. 

There’s definitely a slight electropop influence to the textures we encounter in the backdrop that I would love for this solo project to explore a little further than it already has been in this instance, but all in all, the pastoral tones are what make “Hidden” such a difficult track to put down. Everyone has been toying with hybridity in the last year or two, but what Hidden Beams is offering us in this release is something with a patented identity - rooted in folk/rock - merely presented in a fashion we haven’t experienced prior to now. 

WEBSITE: https://www.hiddenbeams.com/ 

I didn’t know anything about Hidden Beams before coming across his first two singles in “Reveal” and “Hidden” this October, but if this is what he brings to the table as an up and coming independent player, I have a feeling this won’t be the lone occasion on which I review his content. 

There’s a lot of textural expressiveness to be enjoyed in both the video and the single itself, and if this songwriter can find a way to make that element work to his favor as efficiently as possible, he’s going to find himself quite the successful underground force in years still to come. 

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Trace Whittaker

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

10/2020