The Beautiful Word - Particles

Hello! Ruth here. The “Moss”, of “Moss & Jones”, in case you were wondering. Anyway, you already know I can’t write a proper music review to save my life but I do occasionally like to tell you about the music to which I’ve been listening.

I’ve been meaning to write about The Beautiful Word and their album, Particles, for ages now but you know how it is. One day leads to another and before you know where you are it’s March.

I first saw The Beautiful Word in 2012 at the Just So Festival (I’ve raved about this festival before, but if you have a child or children, and a tent, and either a car yourself or access to a kind person with a car willing to drop you off and pick you up, you should certainly think about saving up to go along!) and thought they were amazing. (Actually, their music was so sweet and charming, having heard them at a family festival, I wondered briefly if they tailored their songs specifically to be child-friendly.)

After last year’s Just So Festival I was determined to look them up online, and look them up I did, finding them on Bandcamp, where later that year, they released a gorgeous album, Particles.

Stylistically, they’re a mix of indie pop and folk, with gorgeous close harmonies from Emily and Megan who front the band, and arrangements that keep you listening. (And glockenspiel!) They’re a bit arty and I suppose could be described as “twee”, but in a genuinely sweet and happy way, not at all pretentious or “hipster”.

Particles is full of sweet, light songs that bring a bit of sunshine. But don’t be fooled; when I say “light” I don’t mean that they’re all fluff; Eating Me, Eating You, for example, looks through a sweetly melancholic lens at the way a relationship can self-destruct.

It’s one of my favourite tracks; other favourites include May Not be Love (which has an adorable video, too) for, amongst other things, its gorgeous chorus, Pop It, with its incredibly 90s indiepop feel, and Emily, which feels sweet and personal.

The last song on the album Endless Bright, which has a slightly more serious tone than the rest of the album and feels like a fitting finish.

I’ve listened to this countless times; its the kind of album you want to put on on a Sunday morning while you make pancakes, drink cups of tea and slowly peel the veggies for a roast. Sweet and yes, a bit twee, but also musically very accomplished, and for all its sweetness, it sticks in your head longer than anything “fluffy” might.

My (six year old) son loves it too, and you can’t get a much higher accolade than that.