Beau James Wilding‘s album, seeing i god, is a musical journey that explores various emotions and themes. With nine tracks, the album showcases his unique sound and signature style throughout. The songs are a fusion of Irish traditional music and 80’s California punk, with tonal touchstones that include early Rollins-era Black Flag and early Planxty. The record features instruments associated with traditional Irish folk, such as the bodhran, violin, and Irish Bouzouki, as well as some dirty, feedback-y electric guitars.
The album deals with emotions such as determination, grief, and finding one’s way back to one’s true nature. It also highlights the contrast between the beauty of nature and industrial civilization’s impact on it. The title, seeing i god, is a pun on “seeing eye dog” and speaks to transcending disability, which is an important theme for Wilding, as he is legally blind and grew up with a father with a brain injury. These imperfect bodies teach us strength, acceptance, and wisdom, and this is something that is reflected in his music.
Wilding‘s lyrics are introspective and fully represent him, his emotions, and his surroundings. He is an accomplished musician who has been playing guitar and writing songs since the age of fifteen. His relationship with music intensified after a disease left him legally blind, with his songwriting and musicianship now acting as a spiritual practice. It’s equal parts high-energy and emotionally charged, encompassing gritty folk, garage rock, and impassioned ballads.
Here, the songwriter sums up what this album means to him: “The intention is to showcase a stark contrast between the beauty of nature and industrial civilization’s mark upon it, such as a calming sunset seen through a barbed-wire fence, or the majestic coastline where I live speckled with oil derricks on the horizon. There is that which is ancient, natural and beautiful which may inform and provide insight into our journey, and there are the droppings left behind by mankind.“
You can listen to the seeing i god LP in full below.
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