Biography
Nessie & Her Beard are a vanguard pop music group currently active in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their idiosyncratic style reflects a broad spectrum of 20th century influences focused through a deeply personal lens. Sunshine pop, musique concrète, pre-war jazz, and mutant space disco commune with exotic sounds from around the globe to produce an otherworldly audio event. The sonic chaos is reigned in, however, by ringleader and vocalist par excellence Nessie Ness. Whether Her Beard is churning out pure white noise or dreamily reinterpreting hits from yesteryear, Nessie’s distinguished vocalizations are easily recognizable and inviting to even the most conservative music lover.
The history of Nessie & Her Beard is shrouded in mystery. The only member known by name is Nessie, whose moniker is presumed to be a diminutive derivation of “Vanessa.” Nessie & Her Beard have been seen to perform variously as a duo, trio, and quintet; the number of musicians present on recordings is practically inestimable. N&HB made their first known public appearance in concert to support the release of their debut album, and have since performed in coffee shops, art galleries, and video arcades in San Jose, Santa Clara, and San Francisco, irrespectively. Nessie has been sighted busking on the streets of Santa Cruz and Los Gatos, and she can also be seen regularly probing thrift store organs with impromptu performances. A Nessie & Her Beard concert typically begins with an uneasy silence, as the audience sizes up the bizarre creatures displayed before them. The oppressive atmosphere instantly dissipates as the band begins to play. A digital beguine beat and sparkling arpeggios emanate from a Casiotone keyboard, castanets click-clack a propulsive rhythm, and the glockenspiel peals out a melody that had almost been lost to time. Any apprehensions still held by the spectators are cast out as Nessie ceases her whistling and begins to sing.
To date, N&HB have released one album and two singles via Orchestral Colour Records. The album, tellingly titled BOLD/HARD (with both words pronounced simultaneously in duophony), came into being under mysterious circumstances to be released promptly by OCR. The music of BOLD/HARD makes frequent use of noise, distortion, feedback, and dissonance, but almost always in the context of conventionally rhythmic, melodic, structured songs. The CD insert includes an exhaustive list of instruments used, but the listener can only rarely be certain of what she or he is hearing. Was that an ARP synthesizer, a Flex-a-Tone, or perhaps Nessie’s own golden throat? Only Nessie knows for sure. The only insight into the machinations behind this album come from a music video created for BOLD/HARD’s second single, “Labella,” whose plot in turn is elaborated in Nessie & Her Beard Comics online. N&HB’s single releases since BOLD/HARD have demonstrated an even greater attentiveness to innovative composition and arrangement with considerably less noise. Nessie & Her Beard’s second album, tentatively titled Hirsute, is in the preliminary stages of production and expects a fall 2009 release. The new music will feature a larger ensemble of players and a more transnational sound, drawing inspiration especially from Polynesia, Japan, and the West Indies.
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