Jeff Beam + Rascal Van + Talons Of Spring

Jeff Beam has been strumming at the crossroads of Portland, Maine’s fertile indie-rock, folk and jazz scenes for years, and on this fittingly eponymous album, we get an eerie, era-spanning snapshot of every soul he’s encountered and a timely statement of activism that speaks to this particular moment in America’s history. The multi-instrumentalist is responsible for nearly every sound on the 9-track album—an inspiring and cathartic collection of songs that pleas for healing and change through civic engagement and artistic output.  From the opening shuffle of the haunting “Stephen King,” Beam’s homage to the fellow Mainer’s knack for creative alchemy, to the taut bedroom-funk of “Peripheral,” to the sun-dappled lo-fi disco of “Disarray,” Beam’s songs are eerily familiar, flashing before us his late friend and collaborator Tanner Olin Smith as well as the ghosts of influences like Grizzly Bear, Spoon, Olivia Tremor Control, and Radiohead before leaving their own distinct…