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Apr 08, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Sarah Gilsenan

Australian-based singer/songwriter Michael Beach returned last month with his fourth solo album, Dream Violence, crafting heady ramshackle indie rock with intimate tones from Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and The Velvet Underground. The record, recorded on two continents, chronicles Beach’s move from Oakland, California to Melbourne, Australia. Partially recorded in 2019 in Oakland and partially in Beach’s new Melbourne home, the record finds Beach in limbo and its own sonic landscapes are similarly shifting, creating a sound that lands between meticulous craftsmanship and a hazy reverie. Now Beach has shared his latest video for the album track “Metaphysical Dice,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Metaphysical Dice” casts Beach in particularly doom-laden tones, conjuring the thick atmospherics of goth rock. A relentless driving bassline and chiming acoustic instrumentation accompany Beach’s surreal imagery as he all the while ponders foreboding visions. The musicianship also gets more apocalyptic, ascending to a fervent climax before ending on a fuzzy guitar solo. Meanwhile, the accompanying video, animated by Sophia Mero, conjures similarly bizarre imagery, seemingly envisioning a foretold apocalypse.

Beach says of the video, “I feel very fortunate to have worked with Sophia Mero on the ‘Metaphysical Dice’ video—her films have a familiarity and lack of pretense that I love, and have a brilliant way of communicating meaning both subtly and overtly. With this song, I wanted to transmit a feeling more than any sort of ‘meaning’, and the film clip manages to elevate that feeling perfectly.

Under our recent political and social order, so much of the world felt a sense of doom, helplessness, and a mysterious questioning of the fate of humanity. Sophia’s video has foreboding mystics, bags of money among bags of trash, rats as sole survivors, comets headed for the Bay Area…she nailed it once again!!” Check out the video for “Metaphysical Dice” below. Dream Violence is out now on Goner Records and Poison City Records.

Beach has also announced an updated set of Australian tour dates.

April 01 - Melbourne - Northcote Social Club - w/ Voice Imitator (SOLD OUT)

April 21 - Melbourne - Gasometer - w/ Screensaver, E. Bobby G.

May 01 - Sydney - Vic On The Park - w/ feedtime

May 02 - Thirroul - Frank’s Wild Years - w/ Tuffence Meringue

May 22 - Castlemaine - The Bridge Hotel

May 29 - Brisbane - Backbone - w/ Blank Realm, Cannon, Guppy

May 30 - Brisbane - Sonic Sherpa Records