Geoff Barrow is leaving Beak>, the band he co-founded, in 2009, after Portishead released Third. The band will complete its forthcoming tour dates, in Europe and North America, before Barrow moves on to rest his “dodgy ankle” and focus on other projects, including his debut feature film, due later this year. The band added in a statement, “In terms of future Beak> activity there’s life in the old dog yet, but we need time to mourn our Geoff. New music and activity will come along when the time is right.”
Barrow said, “About 16 years ago 3 like-minded musical strangers got together in a studio to make some music and didn’t care if anyone heard it or not.… After 4 albums and hundreds of shows around the world, it has ended up being the most joyful musical journey I’ve ever experienced.… In life, you know when it’s time to quit touring and now’s that time for me.”
Swapping Portishead’s relatively pop structures for more exploratory, kosmische-inspired jams, Barrow released four albums with Beak>, the first self-titled and each of the next denoted with one extra greater-than symbol. The trio also trickled out supplementary releases, such as a 2015 split-EP with themselves and a song for the TV show Hanna, one of Barrow’s many TV and film themes with Ben Salisbury. In his statement, Barrow added that he looked forward to a new role as “Beak>’s idiotic & musically inept A&R person at Invada.”
