{"id":4595,"date":"2024-11-20T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaudie.co.uk\/press\/?p=4595"},"modified":"2025-01-13T23:06:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T23:06:59","slug":"beyond-beyond-beyond-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/arts\/2024\/11\/20\/beyond-beyond-beyond-album-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Beyond Beyond – album review"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Isobel Clark<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Michigan folk-rock quartet The Crane Wives have had a quite unusual career. Based out of Grand Rapids, the group got their start in the Americana folk scene in 2010, releasing four albums over the next six years, gradually evolving their style through country, rock-and-roll, and jazz. However, it wasn\u2019t until the Covid-19 pandemic that The Crane Wives were catapulted into indie stardom, with their songs \u2018Curses\u2019 and \u2018The Moon Will Sing\u2019 becoming\u00a0 famous on TikTok, with the band now currently sitting at 1.3 million monthly Spotify listeners. This summer, The Crane Wives announced that they\u2019d be releasing a new album in September 2024, entitled <\/span>Beyond Beyond Beyond <\/span><\/i>\u2014 their first studio album in eight years.<\/span><\/p>\n

As one of the people who started listening to The Crane Wives during the pandemic, I was ecstatic at this prospect, and I wasn\u2019t disappointed. As the group concludes their 2024 album release tour, let\u2019s look at what <\/span>Beyond Beyond Beyond<\/span><\/i>\u00a0boasts, and whether it was worth the wait.<\/span><\/p>\n

The album opens with \u2018Scars\u2019, one of the three pre-release singles, and the opening instrumental \u2014 featuring the talents of cellist Jordan Hamilton and violinist Sam Cooper, who appear prominently throughout the album \u2014 immediately establishing the tone of this album as something more mature than their past endeavours. The track\u2019s lyrics also cement this theme, carrying the band\u2019s signature focus on toxic relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second pre-release single, \u2018Bitter Medicine\u2019 is a bit more cheerful, featuring the vocal and guitar talents of lead singer Emilee Petersmark, and the excellent lyricism of Ben Zito and Dan Rickabus. The band\u2019s iconic three-part harmonies are out in full force on this track. Amusingly, this might also be the most times they\u2019ve ever sworn in a song \u2014 if three times can be counted as\u00a0 a large number!<\/span><\/p>\n

The first original track on the album \u2018Higher Ground\u2019 lets all its instruments shine, giving both the band\u2019s four members and the guest players moments in the spotlight. Much like many of their prior releases, this song makes use of evocative imagery to convey its narrative, but I\u2019m not going to explain all the extended metaphors as I think that\u2019s a task for an English student. Do your own analysis!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Predator\u2019, the next song on the album, has a more theatrical, performative vibe, which is refreshing in contrast to their darker songs. It\u2019s still not particularly cheerful, but seems to be more upbeat, a common occurrence in the band\u2019s discography. I\u2019m a big fan of this song\u2019s use of clapping as percussion during the verses and outro, especially while all the other instruments are fading\u00a0 out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Say It\u2019 is the album\u2019s designated slow and mellow song, in advance of the more energetic second half. The chord progression in the chorus is lovely (I know nothing about music theory). Once again, Petersmark, Rickabus and vocalist\/guitarist Kate Pillsbury lend their voices to some beautiful harmonies, which the gentler pace really highlights. This is one of those songs that doesn\u2019t need to sound loud to feel loud.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The album does a heel-face turn on its next track \u2018Mad Dog\u2019 which opens with a catchy riff and a folk-rock sound, more reminiscent of their past releases, such as their 2014 album \u2018Coyote Stories\u2019. The overlapping vocals in the chorus gives the beat a frantic, rapid pace that perfectly matches the rest of the song.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Arcturus Beaming\u2019 was the first prerelease single for <\/span>Beyond Beyond Beyond<\/span><\/i>, dropped back in June. I\u2019m a little confused as to why it\u2019s been placed in the middle of the album, as the hopeful tone (as well as literally saying the album title in the lyrics) would have made it an excellent opener. Either way, the guitar parts are definitely the stand-out feature of this song.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to be biased here: \u2018Time Will Change You\u2019 is one of my favourite songs on this album, without question. The industrial buzz on the electric guitars, coupled with the eerie strings, gives this song a melancholic atmosphere. Coupled with the phenomenal lyrics, this is definitely one of the best songs released by the band in the last few years (in my opinion).<\/span><\/p>\n

Time for another opinion: \u2018Black Hole Fantasy\u2019 is my favourite song ever released by The Crane Wives. Even if it is pretty long (how can six\u00a0 minutes feel so short?), it\u2019s by far the most hopeful track they\u2019ve ever penned, and the extended metaphor of a black hole representing anxious thoughts about a relationship is extremely clever.<\/span><\/p>\n

The album begins to wind down the excitement with \u2018Red Clay\u2019, which definitely harkens back to their Americana roots, and, most rare of all, puts bassist Dan Rickabus at the centre of the vocal trifecta. Calm and relaxed, this song is all acoustic and all chill. Nice!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crane Wives see out their fifth studio album with \u2018River Rushing\u2019, a Fleetwood Mac-reminiscent rock-and-roll track, highlighting the raw power of lead singer Petersmark\u2019s voice. Overall, <\/span>Beyond Beyond Beyond<\/span><\/i>\u00a0manages to end on an optimistic note, setting the stage for future releases.<\/span><\/p>\n

Was it worth the wait? I can\u2019t speak for the people who\u2019ve waited eight years, but after a four-year period of anticipation, <\/span>Beyond Beyond Beyond<\/span><\/i>\u00a0seems hand-crafted to appeal to me \u2014 folk-rock with strings, intricate vocals and complex motifs about determination and progress. Hopefully their future releases can stand up to or exceed their long-overdue return to the music industry.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan folk-rock quartet The Crane Wives’ September 2024 release, “Beyond Beyond Beyond”, is their first studio album in eight years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":4598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":92,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,151],"tags":[555,557,556,553,287,554],"wf_post_folders":[211],"class_list":["post-4595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts","category-reviews","tag-album","tag-beyond-beyond-beyond","tag-folk-rock","tag-isobel-clark","tag-music","tag-the-crane-wives"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Gaudie Staff","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/gaudie-staff\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/images.jpeg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Arts<\/a>","Reviews<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Arts<\/span>","Reviews<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Album<\/a>","Beyond Beyond Beyond<\/a>","Folk-Rock<\/a>","Isobel Clark<\/a>","Music<\/a>","The Crane Wives<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Album<\/span>","Beyond Beyond Beyond<\/span>","Folk-Rock<\/span>","Isobel Clark<\/span>","Music<\/span>","The Crane Wives<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 20 November 2024","modified":"Updated on 13 January 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 20 November 2024 12:00","modified":"Updated on 13 January 2025 23:06"},"featured_img_caption":"Kate Pillsbury, Dan Rickabus, Ben Zito, and Emilee Petersmark of The Crane Wives. Credit: Loren Johnson.","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4595"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5070,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4595\/revisions\/5070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4595"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=4595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}