John Shipe - The Beast Is Back LP
Release date: October 2nd 2020
Artist Information
- Label: Involushun
- Genre: Americana
- Hometown: Portland, OR
- Influences: Neil Young, Jerry Joseph, King Crimson
- Sounds like: Jason Isbell, Wilco, Joe Henry, Neil Finn
Biography
“This is the album of my life. I may not make another one because I may not have anything left in me. My experience in recovery—both as an alcoholic and an artist—brought me to places of brutal honesty, and it has been exhausting,” says John Shipe.
His latest is a fiercely poetic and fearlessly vulnerable double album aptly titled, The Beast Is Back, out October 2nd. The diverse collection brims with songs that course through all streams of Americana, including stately piano ballads, swampy blues, intimate folk, haunting country, and sprightly classic country.
Over 34 years, John has eased through multiple genres of music with ruthless empathy and a literate flair. His songs blur the line between autobiography and hard-luck narrative storytelling. Previously, John has been known for his prolific output, having issued a steady stream of 11 solo records in about ten years. His three prior albums garnered acclaim, airplay, and many career-building live performance opportunities—one highlight being a fill-in slot for Susan Tedeschi at Eugene, Oregon’s venerated Cuthbert Theatre in on a bill with Keb Mo’ and Taj Mahal in front of thousands. Ten years ago, however, John went silent as a recording artist.
“The material itself explains the long wait: it’s about all the life challenges I’ve been confronting that precluded the difficult labor of releasing albums at my former rate. It’s also about the reckoning and resolution that finally allowed me to work again.”
The Beast Is Back is thoughtfully-sequenced, and each side begins with an uplifting track to brace the listener for the reckonings contained in the body of the rest of album. Each disc also has a thematic subtitle; the 18 songs are divided into, Hagiography, as in the biography of a saint, and Involution, as in turning inward for deep self-reflection. The Beast Is Back wouldn’t have happened had it not been for producer Tyler Fortier (Anna Tivel, Beth Wood, and Jeffrey Martin). Tyler understood the life-redeeming nature of the project, and put tireless effort and talent into meeting what was at stake.
“Song About Singing” opens the ambitious double album vigorously with the defiant hard truths in the verses punctuated by anthemic choruses. The album’s title track is a country barnburner that dishes a tale of addiction, relapse, and recovery that’s both harrowing and hilariously honest. “Despite its levity, the song is part of the deadly-serious thread of facing-up-to-shit,” John reveals. The 18-song album concludes with the darkly mesmerizing folk ballad, “Veil.” The song’s final lyrics epitomize why it’s an effective closer: Nobody really knows, nobody really sees, things just happen. There's no conspiracy. “To me, the song means you're responsible for the quality of your own existence—it is like a gentle sigh of acceptance.”
