Mark Beazley - Stateless
by Jon Rogers
published: 26 / 4 / 2010

Label:
Trace Recordings
Format: CD
intro
Contemplative and tranquil, if somewhat predictable instrumental debut solo album from Rothko founder, Mark Beazley
While Mark Beazley came to wider public awareness in 1997 with his band Rothko it’s only now that he has got round to making a fully fledged solo album under his own name. ‘Stateless’, inspired, in part, by Beazley’s time spent on a solitary retreat in the Breacon hills is a gentle, contemplative instrumental album that seems to soundtrack some imaginary film. It’s not really ambient in a ‘Music for Airports’ way but not far off. More like Brian Eno’s ‘Music for Films’ or ‘Discreet Music’. The recordings are gentle, calming and soothing but avoid simply being wallpaper music as they still have a pulse. While it never gets animated it isn’t soporific either and Beazley manages to keep things moving along and interesting without stagnating. The album was also inspired by the music he composed for the documentary ‘Mars: Quest for Life’, about the probe Phoenix Lander that landed on Mars in 2008 and Beazley’s glacial bass strumming manages to invoke the rather desolate and bleak wonder of the Red Planet. That eerie stillness. So ‘Stateless’ is an album of tranquil calmness and powerful in its musical imagery and ability to conjure up impressions and thoughts. But the one snag is that it has all been done before by the likes of Eno and years ago too.
Track Listing:-
1 Three Twenty Five2 Three Thirty Five
3 Three Eleven
4 Four Fourteen
5 Four Fifty One
6 Four Thirty Six
7 Three O Three
8 Two Fifty Seven
9 Three O One
10 Two Fifty Five
11 One Forty Four
12 Three Twenty Two
most viewed articles
current edition
Carl Ewens - David Bowie 1964 to 1982 On Track: Every Album, Every SongBathers - Photoscapes 1
Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Colin Blunstone - Thalia Hall, Chicago, 16/7/2025
John McKay - Interview
Visor Fest - Valencia, Spain, 26/9/2025...27/9/2025
Billie Eilish - O2 Arena, London, 10/7/2025
Bathers - Photoscapes 2
Editorial - July 2025
Sir Tim Rice - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Amy Macdonald - Is This What You've Been Waiting For?Sick Man of Europe - The Sick Man of Europe
Alice Cooper - The Revenge of Alice Cooper
Phew, Erika Kobayashi,, Dieter Moebius - Radium Girls
Lucy Spraggan - Other Sides of the Moon
Blueboy - 2
Cynthia Erivo - I Forgive You
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the Jumbo
Lapsley - I'm a Hurricane, I'm a Woman In Love
Philip Jeays - Victoria
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart