Beacon

Like the pairs Telefon Tel Aviv and Junior Boys, Beacon fuse strands of modern R&B with subterranean club textures, granting equal weight to careful songcraft and sonic detail. A string of EPs plus the compact full-lengths The Ways We Separate (2013), Escapements (2016), and Gravity Pairs (2018) positioned the duo among Ghostly International’s steadiest 2010s acts. After parting ways with the label they have continued to hone a largely downtempo, intimate style, most recently on the album Along the Lethe.

Beacon is the work of producer Jacob Gossett and vocalist/lyricist Thomas Mullarney III. The pair first crossed paths at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute; in April 2011 they offered two tracks as free Bandcamp downloads. Their proper introduction arrived that November via the four-song EP No Body, a subdued yet groove-driven release on the Moodgadget label, itself aligned with Ghostly International. Over the next twelve months they crisscrossed the United States, supporting Gold Panda, Tycho, and Oneohtrix Point Never. October 2012 brought the For Now EP on Ghostly proper, followed four months later by their restrained debut album The Ways We Separate.

In 2014 the duo reworked Tycho’s “See” and closed the year with L1. That third EP contained pockets of greater motion that foreshadowed the quicker pulses and more corporeal textures of Escapements, released in February 2016. Further road work alongside Tycho, during which Mullarney contributed vocals to the live band, prompted a fresh recording of “See” now billed to Tycho “feat. Beacon.” Together with Beacon’s own single “Marion,” the track paved the way for Gravity Pairs, their third album, in November 2018.

Entering the new decade, Beacon issued a piano-driven reading of Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation,” then exited Ghostly to start Apparent Movement with the track “Feel Something.” A one-off single for Best Of appeared the following year. In 2022 they recast Madness’ “Our House” as a skeletal ballad; that September they delivered Along the Lethe, material conceived during COVID-19 lockdown. Former Ghostly labelmate Matthew Dear appears on “Mile a Minute,” while “Ostrich” features saxophone figures from Colin Stetson.