Mark Beazley - Stateless

While Mark Beazley came to wider public awareness in 1997 with his band Rothko it’s only now that he has got round to making a fully fledged solo album under his own name. ‘Stateless’, inspired, in part, by Beazley’s time spent on a solitary retreat in the Breacon hills is a gentle, contemplative instrumental album that seems to soundtrack some imaginary film. It’s not really ambient in a ‘Music for Airports’ way but not far off. More like Brian Eno’s ‘Music for Films’ or ‘Discreet Music’. The recordings are gentle, calming and soothing but avoid simply being wallpaper music as they still have a pulse. While it never gets animated it isn’t soporific either and Beazley manages to keep things moving along and interesting without stagnating. The album was also inspired by the music he composed for the documentary ‘Mars: Quest for Life’, about the probe Phoenix Lander that landed on Mars in 2008 and Beazley’s glacial bass strumming manages to invoke the rather desolate and bleak wonder of the Red Planet. That eerie stillness. So ‘Stateless’ is an album of tranquil calmness and powerful in its musical imagery and ability to conjure up impressions and thoughts. But the one snag is that it has all been done before by the likes of Eno and years ago too.

Track Listing:-

1 Three Twenty Five
2 Three Thirty Five
3 Three Eleven
4 Four Fourteen
5 Four Fifty One
6 Four Thirty Six
7 Three O Three
8 Two Fifty Seven
9 Three O One
10 Two Fifty Five
11 One Forty Four
12 Three Twenty Two