First, the bad news. This year, we'll be getting the LAST and FINAL holiday EP from Beta Radio. "The Songs The Season Brings" has been one of those annual treats I most look forward to each year. In the hands of the North Carolina Indie Alt-Folk duo, a Christmas song heard thousands of times before becomes vibrant and fresh once more. They find a secret beauty in a tune and walk with it down that untrod path to places you didn't know were possible. And, each year, their collections would include an original that could take your breath away. I was always so awestruck by the beauty of their creations that words absolutely failed me. That's why my write ups would be so sparse (see 2011's here and 2012's here; we weren't around much in 2013, but Beta Radio's third EP got written up as part of our Stubby's House collection that year--track 17).
Ben Mabry and Brent Holloman, the pair of friends who are Beta Radio, have been playing together and singing together for well over a decade. In recent years, we haven't been the only ones to notice and their careers have taken off a bit. That may be one reason we are seeing the end of "The Songs The Season Brings". And perhaps we should have seen it coming last year when the group had been working so hard on the "Colony of Bees" album that they could only issue a sampler of their 3 earlier holiday EPs (mind you, we were grateful for that).
I wish I could tell you that "The Songs The Season Brings, Vol. 4" will, as has been their tradition, make an appearance around Thanksgiving as a free download via Bandcamp or Noisetrade or both. But the duo doesn't say that directly. I'm certainly hoping. In these troubled times, the world needs the holiday music of Beta Radio. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled. In any case, after this year.....no more.
Does the good news outweigh the bad, here? I dunno. Probably not. But I do know that, as soon as I post this piece, I'm on my way over to Beta Radio's on-line store to get my order in.