Steve Mason has been writing the soundtrack for your inner monologue since the Beta Band crash-landed their technicolor swirl onto our heads over twenty years ago. Now, with About the Light, he’s traded in a bit of that psychedelic gloom for something radical: hope. “Some people are calling it my masterpiece — I’ll take that!” he laughs, and for once, he doesn’t sound like he’s kidding.
This is an album that sparkles with brass sections, gospel flourishes, and more than a hint of ‘60s pop sweetness. “I’ve always had a deep love of pop music,” Mason says, unapologetically. “A three-and-a-half-minute slice of golden melody? That’s magic. And the older I get, the more I want to write proper pop songs. Most people do it the other way around — I’m just weird.”
The new record is stitched together with big life swings: fatherhood, marriage, loss. And the big reveal? Anti-depressants. “I stayed depressed for way too long because I was terrified it would ruin my songwriting,” he admits. “Eventually, I thought, fuck this. I went on them. And you know what? You’re still an artist — you just find breathing space.”
He’s found more than space; he’s found a brass section and three backing singers. “I knew if I didn’t add another element, it’d just be a guitar album,” he says. “And I didn’t want that. I pushed myself on the vocals too, trying to reach inside and find that slice of soul that’s in all of us. The brass and the singers — they saved me.”
But don’t let the soulful sway fool you — the political bite is still there. America Is Your Boyfriend is the record’s calling card. “It’s like a kid saying, ‘If you love America so much, why don’t you marry it?’” he deadpans. “This so-called ‘special relationship’ between our governments is just being in bed with each other. It doesn’t represent me. I don’t want it to.”
And when you try to tie it all back to the Beta Band — the swirling, money-burning meteor that flamed out twenty years ago — Mason’s not having it. “We were a psychedelic rainbow streak that crashed into a mountain,” he says, half proud, half exasperated. “That record couldn’t exist now — no one would fund it. There’s no money left in music, so you’re left with people who really care… or corporate scumbags putting out nonsense.”
He’s not giving up, though. “Art finds a way in,” Mason says, almost sweetly. “Always does.” And with About the Light, it sounds like he’s found his — horns blazing.
Listen to the interview above and then check out the video below!
