Fog On Mirror Glass: Vinyl LP

Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: Royal Oakie
Release Date: 24th April

An album of songs mainly recorded in the same place Donald wrote them in his living room, it gives this album a homely and personable feel, acoustic and stripped back, with moments where brushed drums, light bass guitar and subtle bright melodies shine in from time to time. Oftentimes the hardest trick is to make the stripped and gentle so enthralling but this is the kind of record that has you hanging on every strum and word from Donald's dulcet toned vocal. 

For those who dig: Cass McCombs, Bonnie Prince Billy, Kevin Morby, Jake Xerxes Fussell...

Fog On Mirror Glass introduces a new aesthetic amongst Donald Beaman albums. After four albums of varied full-band arrangements, this album emerged as
an idea to present solo performances in conversation with full-band work. The bulk of the songs were recorded in the same place they were written: Beaman’s
living room. Long time bandmate and producer Kirt Lind set up a makeshift studio at Beaman’s house to record the guitar parts in the same room where they
were written, using the same guitars on which they were first played.
Unfurling with a measured pace, the resulting album combines elegiac lyrics with elemental arrangements played with an almost jazz-like reverential
expressiveness, calling to mind the works of Cass McCombs, Will Oldham, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. Album opener “Glass Bottom Boat” sets the tone for the
album with just Beaman and his guitar – written during the final months of a decade-long stay in New York City, the song was finished upon his arrival back in
California. Meanwhile the title track, long a staple in live sets, lands near the middle of the album to recalibrate the mood, featuring the ghostly guitar work of
longtime collaborator Ken Lovgren. “Old Universe” lifts things up a bit, propelled by the brushwork of drummer Michael Nalin and the jaunty bass playing of
Kirt Lind. Finally, the album ends much the way it began, with Beaman and his guitar on album closer “Bamboo”.
“The dictionary definition of less is more.” - ---- Mojo
“His ability to carve universal empathy from mundane domesticity is remarkable.” - ---- RNR Magazine
“...a collection of evocative scenes and vivid emotions sung to sparse musical arrangements in Beaman’s distinctive sonorous tones” - Americana UK
“...pure and simmering, like a tattoo dedicated to a long lost friend, slightly fading from years in the sun, a memory that will always bring a tear in those quiet
reflective moments.” - Psychedelic Baby Magazine