Ex-Urusen man Peter Beatty uses his debut solo album to reflect on his life experiences.

Release Date:  21^st June 2024

Label: Nightjar Recordings

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

He grew up in South-West England – just about within sight of Glastonbury Tor, in fact – but singer-songwriter Peter Beatty is now very much a citizen of the world.  It’s 20-odd years since Peter – along with his cousin Ben – left the sanctuary and sanctity of Somerset to serve and direct London’s thriving alt-folk scene and, along the way, he’s spent a lot of time traveling – through England’s myriad waterways, in the mountains of Nepal and along highways and byways of North America.  And it’s those travels that have influenced and informed the songs that, together, constitute Different Flowers, Peter’s remarkable debut solo album.

Peter Beatty may already be a familiar name to you.  He was, for several years, a constituent part of Urusen, the indie folk outfit who attracted attention a few years ago with their pair of albums, One Day in June (2007) and This is Where We Meet (2012).  Since then, and – particularly – since his travels, his focus has been directed on making sense of and learning the lessons from his adventures and experiences.  Different Flowers grew out of loss, followed by adventure.  It tackles themes of love, grief, vulnerability, but also taking chances, self-discovery, our relationship with the world around us, celebrating our differences and hope.  As Peter explains: “The title, Different Flowers, references the song selection process, but it also celebrates our individuality and the fragile, ephemeral, nature of our existence – each of these songs represents a moment in time – and life is just a series of moments, and it’s so important to remain in the present in each of them.”

an intense experience

Different Flowers is certainly an intense experience.  There’s so much to take in amongst Peter’s lyrics and the well-structured layers of instrumental and vocal sound.  Peter recognizes the influence of writers such as Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Sufjan Stevens, Big Thief, Richard Hawley and Laura Viers have had upon his work; I’d also suggest that Nick Drake and Bert Jansch have also had a hand in shaping the remarkable songs that constitute Different Flowers.

The Different Flowers project started to grow legs when Peter was introduced to Producer and multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas.  With Fred’s help and advice, guest performers such as Phillip Granell (violin and viola), Ewan Bleach (reeds) and Miranda Joy (vocals) were enlisted in the project – and the result is a production that gives top priority to Peter’s voice and lyrics and which blends and layers the multiplicity of instruments in a way that is always subtle, always endearing and never intrusive.

The album gets underway with We’re Beyond That, a song that emphasizes the importance of letting go of the past and moving forward.  Peter’s voice is high in the mix and the band – resonant bass, discrete drums and some nice flourishes of guitar – simmer nicely, and there’s a real dash of vitality, once Phillip’s violin is added.  Peter documents his final visit to the bedside of his dying grandmother in the poignant, personal, Go Gently.  His lyrics pour out memories of earlier, happier encounters and the gentle, haunting, accompaniment is just right, as he bids farewell to his beloved grandparent – “Go gently into the good night…”

a journey

Clearly a man of impulse, Peter is the type of guy to take an off-the-cuff decision to drop everything and embark upon a 7-month journey around England’s waterways and the excellent Leaving In The Morning describes moments from that journey, reflects upon his decision to take it and then considers what the long-term legacy of the trip may turn out to be.  His vocal delivery is superb as he sings: “Maybe I’ll be leaving in the morning too, maybe I’ll be running away with you;” Miranda’s vocal harmonies are wonderful and the busy backing is highlighted by some lovely guitar licks.  It’s a great song that resonates on so many levels.

Brushes, swept across a snare drum skin, replicate the sound of the ebbing and flowing tide for the atmospheric I Am an Island Forming in the Ocean.  The guitars, when they join the mix, signal an awakening and a calming of the tides, in an anthemic song that is filled with an overwhelming sense of loneliness, before Peter revisits his live-aboard experiences with the excellent Tell Me Where to Go, the album’s award-winning single.  Peter’s lyrics celebrate the friends that he made, along with the spirit of adventure that was ever-present during his watery sojourn.  A shuffling drum rhythm provides the drive, as the song builds pleasantly.  The vocals are, once again, excellent, there’s a happy calypso feel to things and, with lines like: “Someone asked me, ‘Are we there?’  Someone answered, ‘I don’t care,’” Peter captures perfectly the absolute freedom that comes with spending life afloat.

The subject of miscommunication is a topical one in these troubled times and it’s the topic to which Peter turns his attention for the gentle, folky, The Space Between.  A sparse accompaniment of fingerpicked acoustic guitar helps the listener to focus on Peter’s lyrics as he compares non-communicative neighbours to rocks sticking out of the sea and the backing builds in intensity as the lyrical frustration at the communicative impasse increases.  And, sticking with subjects that we’ve all probably experienced at some time or another, it’s falling into the trap of a romantic situation that is clearly destined to end badly that provides the scenario for the poppy Her.  The short, sharp strums of electric guitar recall a 50s pop tune, but the song’s intensity is Peter’s alone, particularly as he sings the “This is a place I cannot leave” refrain.

Peter uses the literal – and figurative – depletion of trees to describe feelings of exposure, in an increasingly fragile world, in There Used to be Trees.  The deep, rich tones of Phillip’s viola add to the bleak Nick Drake-like appeal of the song, and that feel is compounded by Peter’s soft fingerpicked guitar.  Miranda’s vocal harmonies – and the vocal conflicts of the song’s coda add to the despair and the sense of foreboding in Peter’s lyrics.

Full, rich tones

Strings, organ, vocal harmonies and plucked guitars all combine to achieve the full, rich tones that make Blood Moon one the album’s standout tracks.  It’s a song that typifies much of Different Flowers – on the surface, it’s a pop song, but there’s a great deal going on beneath that surface, even before Peter’s lyrics – which use the metaphor of a blood moon rising over London to consider changes that may, or may not, be afoot – are analysed.

Peter seems to emulate Bert Jansch – in his guitar, lyrical and vocal styles – on the dramatic Nets, a song that explores the theme of vulnerability and expresses despair at how there will always be people who abuse whatever power they have, before going on to make, in Hope, some often overlooked observations of how love, kindness and consideration, rather than greed and selfishness are the things that stimulate hope.  It’s a contemplative piano ballad, and the lyrics are particularly poignant in the hypocritical and self-serving environment that seems to pervade public life at the moment.

And so, to close this intriguing album…  Peter has chosen a reinterpretation of the children’s song, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, to express his observations regarding the brevity of life.  Half Life is another great song, with yet another excellent, sincere, vocal.  We’re back, once more, on the waterways as, to a discrete accompaniment of tingly guitar and a gentle percussive rhythm, Peter takes his observations to an idyllic pastoral setting of a flowing river, as we drift downstream whilst life passes by.

Different Flowers – a truly fascinating album.

And look out for Peter’s Why I Love feature coming very soon…

The official video to the album’s lead single, tell Me Where To Go, was, itself an award winner, picking up ‘Best Music Video’ awards at the London Independent Film Awards, Oxford International Film Festival and Vienna International Film Awards. You can watch the video here:

Peter Beatty online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / X (formerly Twitter) / YouTube / Bandcamp / Spotify

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