SceNE2: Beth Jeans Houghton

This week, Chris Haywood speaks to Beth Jeans Houghton – dubbed the North East’s Laura Marling.

She’s been kicking up quite a storm with her band The Hooves of Destiny since she last performed in the toon last October, with debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose released in February.

This was never going to be the easiest of features to write up as at times it’s been difficult to imagine the words that could describe the multifarious and almost ineffable nature of this band. It didn’t help too that they (Beth above anyone else though) often seemed standoffish and distant in person and very much assertive with it. Inevitably then, and with no evidence to suggest otherwise, it became clear in the little time I had with them that there’s a purposefully peculiar and elaborately crafted charade; look at their name, for example, which encompasses this band.

It’s no real surprise that Houghton has crafted one though, is it? It’s no modern phenomena to find female singer-songwriters who have purposefully deviated from the popular ‘norm’ and hidden behind a whimsical mask in the hope of securing a distinct and uncompromising niche for themselves. This niche is now well and truly saturated though. In effect, from the outset Beth has been vying for space in an industry now marked by ‘Florence Welchs’ who boast grand, magnetic vocals, a quaint personality, and are possessed by some extraordinary idiosyncrasies and odd preoccupations. Houghton is no different at all to this template.

But like I’ve said, none of this should be a surprise to anyone. You’d expect such a potent and eccentric declaration of individuality to come from someone who has always had to fight off comparisons to others, and very uncomfortable ones at that. Take three years ago for instance: on the release of Houghton’s debut, the Hot Toast E.P, NME and the like had her down, marked, and assigned as just one characteristic piece of a then burgeoning folk scene. After all, she appeared then to be twee yet contemplative and her sound hinged heavily on acoustic instrumentation.

Yet she protested at the time and still does that “none [such supposedly derivative comparisons] of that is to do with me”. Instead, she purports to being “very stubborn in knowing that the music I make is the music I want to make.” Nevertheless, you can’t help but feel that someone who appears so adamant to assert themselves on the matter is very much concerned by it. I guess it’s more than feasible then to suggest that the intervening years have been a perfect opportunity for them to put some space between themselves and those around them by cultivating and propagating an image they consider to be separate from that of others.

In the process, Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves of Destiny have essentially become musical maximalists. Even on first glance, one can easily identify elements of the unorthodox folk of Joanna Newsom, the brand of mystic pop Annie Lennox became famous for, and the psychedelic rock tendencies of Joni Mitchell and Grace Slick. Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose, the band’s debut L.P. released this February, is hence an extremely ‘big-sounding’ record; one that spirals manically throughout its length. The sonic landscape is above all else packed; each song is fundamentally a complex, multifaceted creation. It works to good effect on the intricate yet concise ‘Sweet Tooth Bird’, ‘Dodecahedron’ and even ‘Atlas’, yet on ‘Liliputt’ and ‘Carousel’ all direction is lost in amongst the overwhelming immensity of the instrumentation. At points, you only wish there was more finesse and refinement and less bluster and hysteria. All I want is a bit of structure.

Accordingly, the record’s undoubted highlight is ‘The Barely Skinny Bone Tree’; a track that bears all to see in its sweeping simplicity. With perfect acoustics and pristine instrumentation, they have laid down a ‘barely-there’ track that is much more vibrant with feeling and intensity than any other track to be found on the album. It is here above all else that the incandescent beauty of Beth’s songwriting is afforded the space to come to the fore. With her synaesthesia, Beth sees her music through textures and shapes of colour and taste and smell; her words are so much more beautiful and rich for it. Perhaps there is something glowing beneath their convoluted charade after all.

All in all though, the prospect of longevity for Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves of Destiny is dangerously compromised by a toxic aura of novelty. However, for the sake of such beauty as that which can be found at certain points in Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose,  I really hope this is not the case.

Who are Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves?

There’s six of us in total: Rory on bass, Dav on drums, Ed on guitar and trumpet, Callum on keys, Fin on guitar and I sing and play guitar too.

How do you all know each other?

I met Rory and Dav about six years ago; it started out with just us. Then I met Fin at a party and I’ve known Ed since I was ten because he was my brother’s friend.

What have you done with the band so far?

We’ve done a lot of tours and a few festivals. We’ve travelled a lot, had a lot of fun. And we’ve made a record, which is the first step to making the next one.

Summarise the band in five words

Fun musical alchemists of sonic theatre.

Who are your musical heroes?

I don’t really listen to any new music; I’ve always listened to rock ’n’ roll from the ‘50s to the ‘70s before it started to become a parody of itself. So stuff like Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and also The Lemon Pipers.

What was the first album you ever bought?

The first album I listened to on vinyl was Ladies of the Canyon by Joni Mitchell.

What’s your favourite venue in Newcastle?

I don’t see us as a Newcastle band; we never really cut our teeth as a band in Newcastle. In fact, on a few UK tours we’ve missed Newcastle altogether. So, I can’t really say.

What’s next for the band?

We’re touring Europe and then America; I love travelling and playing these songs, but I’m also really excited to get the ones that we have inside us right now out there. I want to get into the studio as soon as possible to be honest and I’d like to begin recording a new record by the end of the year. And then I also want to move out to L.A.; it looks like the land of my dreams.

Where and when can we see you next in Newcastle?

Not again on this tour; I always take the attitude that if we played once in every place, that’s fine. We can move on then for the time being.

______________________________________________________________________

Author: Chris Haywood

Source: The Courier Online

Date: March 5, 2012

Original article: HERE