Beccy Owen - LIVE ALBUM LAUNCH OF 'PORTAL'

This in-the-round event is the world premiere of Beccy Owen's self-produced seventh solo album 'PORTAL'.

We're thrilled to announce that poet and spoken word artist will be performing a set in support of the event.

Feel free to bring your blankets and cushions for extra comfort - both chairs and floor space will be available - as we huddle down together in a relaxed atmosphere to hear a live version of the new record.
The album will be on sale on the night in CD format, as well as released online that day. You can pre-order the album HERE.

Beccy's handmade ceramic spoons will also be available, having becoming somewhat of a tradition at her "Hush Club" gatherings over the years.
This is a dry event, with chai tea, soft drinks and mince pies being served in a fully accessible venue overlooking the majesty of the Gateshead Quayside.
Parking is available at nearby sites , i.e. Church Street and The Glasshouse. Please get in touch if you have any access requirements you would like to discuss.

Please note: there are Full Price and also Pay As You Feel Tickets available on this event site for anyone who needs this option. These PAYF tickets are available after you click the 'book' button.
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MORE ABOUT WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE MUSIC / NEW ALBUM:
BECCY OWEN RELEASES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SELF-PRODUCED SEVENTH ALBUM ‘PORTAL’, BRINGING PRONOUNCED EXPERIMENTAL SHIFT IN STYLE THAT TRANSMUTES PAIN INTO BEAUTY. ALBUM OUT 19 DEC.
Beccy is a seasoned artist with an impressive musical pedigree, and PORTAL heralds yet another high-point in her unstintingly stirring career as she drops autobiographical precision in favour of something more universal and elemental.
The album has been 5 years in the making, and includes new material and esoteric covers. The record began life as a series of live, long-form improvisations, which were honed into pieces more recognisable as musical invocations than conventional songs.
Describing her latest creative process as being ‘led by the weather and schooled by the sea’, if there’s a theme running through this album’s disparate tracks, it is of confronting global and personal polycrisis and ‘grind culture’ (as coined by Tricia Hersey) by rewilding oneself into nature’s cycles. With this outlook, Owen is utterly empowered.

The first two singles released from the album ('you are more than this body' and 'witches' reel') stayed true these themes as well as to the record’s sprawling beginnings, each single being over 8 minutes long, and the sense of space and ‘not rushing’ afforded by elongated forms invites the listener to relinquish internal tensions and allows both maker and listener to relish in the shape-shifting, restorative sonic journey that is being offered here.

The trance-inducing wash of ‘you are more than this body’ is a gentle, emotional ride that signifies Owen’s capacity for a catchy hook as she sings ‘you are the entire ocean’. In this context the song becomes a vital homage to those living with chronic conditions and a mantra to be embodied and clung to in a storm.

The traditional Palestinian song 'wein ha Ramallah' has become a symbol of the Diaspora around the world. It appears on PORTAL in support of indigenous Palestinian liberation. In fact the album title itself is partly derived from Susan Abulhawa's quote describing Palestine as humanity's 'only portal to the future'

Perhaps most surprising on the record are the places where Owen’s immaculate voice appears to be channelling other entities, and is allowed to wander into something more raw and shredded. In the dazzling 1591 song ‘witches’ reel’ Owen expresses a cascading, gnarled roar of female defiance. This piece should come with complementary travel sickness Medic*tion given it’s wildly incessant, dizzying effect.

PORTAL’s closing suite is a medley of contemporary lullabies: Abigail Bengon’s ‘prayer for stopping’, Saphir Lewis and Ralph Perlman’s ‘behold’ and Sofia Efthimiou’s ‘this is home’, the marrying of which provides a sense of spiritual elevation, with deliberate attention paid to allowing the record’s key elements of harmony, frequency and repetition to shine through with minimal interference.

Both soothing and charged, as a whole, PORTAL feels complex, medicinal and direct. The music regularly riffs upon single affirmations, and ultimately it is this use of repetition, paired with the dynamic textures of Owen’s versatile voice (which has never sounded more at home) along with hang pan, kotamo, piano, percussion, kalimba, gongs, backwards birdsong and singing bowls, that combine to create a dense listening experience that is both comforting and disarming.

Each song feels like a succession of immersive suites, each one an intervention, an act of solidarity with the listener. Some float on blissful tides of release, others are visceral calls to action. Within all of these shifting scenes Owen is encapsulating an emotional catharsis that doesn't fit well with conventional language, and in it’s primal underpinning ultimately beckons our soul’s marrow ‘home'. Prepare to be mesmerised.

Event cover photograph by Nicola Mantalios
Video extract from 'you are more than this body' by Beccy Owen

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

St. Mary's Heritage Centre, Oakwellgate, Gateshead, United Kingdom

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