Recorded in Dear's home studio and mixed at Nicolas Vernhes' Rare Book Room studios in Brooklyn, Beams evokes a day-lit dreamworld at once strange and familiar. While the album's dancefloor-ready tempos, major keys, and sun-warmed synths signal Beams as the lighter, brighter response to its predecessor, closer inspection reveals a squirming mass of oddball details. Dear's latest productions on Beams creak and groan like anxious organisms, with slivers of guitar, electric bass, and drum kit darting in and out among the synths and samples.
“Murky Disco, Minimal Techno And Subterranean Dance-Pop Are Further Mined By Dear’s Bottom-Of-A-Manhole Vocals, The Dark-Side Progtronica Of Get The Rhyme Right And The Space-Carnival Chirrup Of Her Fantasy Bound Together By Queasy Unease.” - Mojo
"Infectious Pop That Crackles With Pure Melancholy. The Michigan-Based Singer Has Been Around A While, But His Latest Album May Well See Him Break Into The Mainstream." - The Independent
“At Once Incredibly Forward-Looking And Reassuringly Familiar – A Hard Trick To Pull Off In Itself – Beams Will Feel Like An Album You've Already Spent A Lifetime With, And Can Only Cement Dear's Reputation As One Of The Finest Songwriters In Modern Electronic Music.” - Skinny
"... Proves That Electronic Producers Who Refuse To Be Typecast Are The Ones Who Keep The Music Exciting." – Wire
“Like Bowie Doing Blissed Out, Undulating Space Disco.” – The Times
