33 1/3 & Under: Young Creatives of the Hudson Valley – Meet beccs

America has been shaped by a steady stream of “Great Migrations.”  Now, the Hudson Valley is being reshaped by one of its own—the rapid influx of young go-getters pursuing their passions for music, fine art, cuisine, entrepreneurship, social advocacy and more.

With our new column, “33 1/3 & Under,” we are spotlighting these impressive young people— not only the expats from Brooklyn and other cities but also the homegrown movers and shakers who are using their creativity and energy to take giant steps in their chosen fields.

We could think of no better person to inaugurate this new feature than beccs.  This 31-year-old Hudsonian, by way of Boston and Brooklyn, began her musical journey at four, studying violin and ultimately playing Yes covers with her progressive rock-loving dad and brothers. She is among the most buzzed-about young singer-songwriters working today, a favorite of influential media including Nylon Magazine, Popdust, Ladygunn, Refinery 29, and many more.  Her latest EP, Stay Moist, will surely move her further up the ranks.  We here in the Hudson Valley are lucky to catch her at intimate venues like the Avalon Lounge and The Park Theater. 

Read on to hear more about her fascinating life, on and off the stage.  And if you know of a young creative who deserves a share of the spotlight, one under 33 ⅓ years of age, the speed at which an old vinyl LP spins per minute, please let us know.

Let’s begin with how you got interested in music. Was it a part of your family life, and what was your formal musical education?

I was raised in a very musical home in Newton, MA. My father composed music and played multiple instruments, including fiddle and mandolin, in a Klezmer band and was an avid progressive rock fan. We have been known to perform acoustic Yes covers arranged by my father as a family band. My two older brothers and I started on the Suzuki violin method at four. I sang, danced, and acted in musicals every chance I got through high school. I then studied acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I started gigging and learning with a songwriting mentor at Steinhardt, NYU’s music school. I was fortunate to study with many excellent voice teachers from a young age, including Doug Jabara, Katie Bull at The Atlantic Acting School, and Jonathan Hart Makwaia at The Experimental Theater Wing. It would be remiss of me not to include that I grew up in a very identified Jewish community where melody, song, and prayer were part of everyday life. Music was part of my upbringing, but its roots are ancestral. To this day, I sing melodies that have been passed down for generations with my 98-year-old aunt and my soon-to-be 100-year-old Grandfather, Eddie Gastfriend, who is a survivor of the Holocaust.

Who were your biggest musical inspirations during your formative years, and how have they evolved?

So many, in my early years, Tori Amos, Laura Nyro, The Beatles, Sondheim, Suzanne Vega, Portishead, Beth Gibbons, Paula Cole, Janis Ian, Tom Lehrer, and K.D. Lang. Anohni, FKA Twigs, Caroline Polachek, Kate Bush, Sevdaliza, Miranda July films, Kimbra, and Aldous Harding are what really capture my heart now. 

You began writing songs in your early teens as a way to deal with your emotions, lost love, and even an eating disorder. Tell us how these experiences shaped the songs on your 2016 debut EP, Unfound Beauty, and tunes like “Therapy” and “By the Sea.”

Songwriting started as a means of survival. I was in residential treatment at the time I wrote “Therapy.” There was a piano at the hospital, and I would sit down and write whenever possible. These songs were not only a means to work through my recovery, but they tethered me to others – a collective healing. Community can play a huge role in recovery. Knowing I was writing for others as well as for myself really inspired me to not only write but to get better. Songwriting has remained a means for navigating life. 

“By the Sea” came later. I wrote it about a transient lover. It explores how the search for love can result in the loss of self and how the homecoming, when you finally return to yourself, can feel like its own heartbreak. I wrote 100 personal hand-written postcards around that release, from the persona of the song to her lover. One of them ended up in a waterlogged book a year later at the side of the road and changed someone’s life. Art is wild. The deeper we go into specificity, the more profound the impact. How impact and “reach” differ and overlap is a constant curiosity.

Your debut EP and early singles were in a traditional Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter style. Still, your new EP, Stay Moist, is a real evolution in its daring sonics and lush arrangements. How did this change come about, and what were the inspirations?

There were a lot of factors that coalesced into my discovering a more pop-leaning sound. A big part of it was my collaborators and my partner Godfrey Furchtgott, who turned me on to appreciating the craft and immediacy of pop records. I was interested in treating each song as its own character for this record. Stay Moist took a lot of time to complete for that reason. Each song is a different amplified facet of me, and it was essential to sonically and visually honor that. 

Your new EP has a range of styles, from the optimistic pop of “Good Comin’” and the dark pop of “I Don’t Do Fun” to the humorous snarky of “Jealous Bitch” and the wonderfully jazzy “f 0 0 d.” What is your process for composing tunes like this and recording them to give them such a unique ambiance and sonic structure?

The process for each song was pretty different. Stay Moist included a variety of old and new songs. “Good Comin’” and “Rage in My Veins” were more recent and came about when I got into more pop co-writing. 

“Good Comin’” flew out in one fell swoop while jamming with Godfrey after a session. After having produced it, I ended up rewriting the verse lyrics and adding a pre-chorus! It took me time and a massive notebook to finish crafting the lyrics on that one. I produced it in Brooklyn with Godfrey and our friend Eben D’Amico.

Other tracks were more piecemeal. I wrote six B-sections for “f 0 0 d” until I landed on the meandering chord progression you hear today. “For Rage in My Veins,” I wrote four choruses until I found the anthemic, “maybe I could break free” around which Ian Chang did drum production. 

Other than “f 0 0 d,” which I self-produced, the whole EP was made with a variety of wildly talented collaborators, including Eben D’Amico, Michael Haldeman, Ian Chang, Alan Markley, Tiger Darrow, Cale Hawkins, Donnie Spackman, Dave Scalia, Jett Dott and queer feminist icon, Bitch, who is featured on “Jealous Bitch.“ My executive co-birthers on the project, to whom I am indebted, were Godfrey Furchtgott and mixer/co-producer Jack Mullin. They saw this baby through. Edsel Holden mastered it. 

You said the COVID-19 quarantine played a big role in your development, that it gave you time to compose and learn more about producing your music with programs like Logic.

I started learning production earlier, around the time of “By the Sea.” I grew disheartened by the archetypal (male) producer – (female) songwriter dynamic and felt increasingly frustrated with not having the tools to explore and execute my ideas. I started on Ableton, then Logic, and now back to Ableton. It’s an ongoing learning curve. Half the time, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I get off on experimenting with childlike wonder and stumbling upon cool things. I try to get a little bit lost. 

One thing that’s been helpful is learning by mimicry. I’ll take a song that has a production I dig and try to mimic it. My journey has been a constant lesson of re-learning. I say to myself, “Oh beccs, you’re a producer. Just go for it.” 

You are very upfront about your sexuality and even wrote what you called “a queer inclusive Xmas ballad, ‘Before This Christmas Ends.'” Tell us about the genesis of this song and the as-of-yet unrecorded one, “Make Him A God,” which you want to do with a full orchestra.

I think at the root of these songs, more than my queerness, is my philosophy around love and my work to reject the romantic tropes and roles we’ve been prescribed, which inevitably relates back to my queerness. I don’t think I would have been able to find love without it. “Make Him A God“ is my spiritual undoing of these tropes. I plan to record it and develop a musical around it in the future. 

Video has been an essential part of your style and brand. I understand you even entertained being an actress before focusing on music. Tell us about your collaborators and what you seek to achieve in the video, especially with the experimental short, The Bouquet.

Film is one of my favorite mediums. I plan to explore it more in the future. 

The Bouquet was made impromptu with long-time collaborator Katelyn Kopenhaver, with a score by Sam Mewton, who both worked on “By the Sea.” We were out one night, and I started singing to flowers and making out with one of those plastic tent walls at a bodega, as one does, and Katelyn filmed it all. We premiered it in a performance art installation for Valentine’s Day, partnering with visual artist Ryan Bock in 2020.

My friends Alisha Bhowmik, who directed “Before This Christmas Ends;” Julia Barrett-Mitchell, who directed “Good Comin’,” “Therapy,” and “I Don’t Do Fun;” and Chester Vincent-Toye, who directed “f 0 0d,” have all been a big part of my best visual fancies. I also need to mention Alisha Bhowmik, who just wrapped up a short film called Soma, in which I acted and performed. It features songs off my upcoming record and shares a message very close to my heart. I’m excited for people to see it.

You’re new to the Hudson Valley, arriving from Brooklyn through Boston, where you were raised. What makes the music scene unique here, especially for the latest generation of artists like yourself? And what local musicians most inspire you?

I’m really excited to dive deeper into the scene here. Some friends and artists I adore include: 

Kendra McKinley –  “Makeup”

Margo Ross – “Fan the Flame”

Wesley Harper – “In the Way,” “Glenn Echo,” “Rose Stoller” + “Babehoven” 

What are your favorite places to play and see music here in the Hudson Valley?

I love Avalon Lounge. Liam and Annie are the best, and the community around them is really warm and special. Their open-fried fish sandwich gets me every time. 

To my ears, your most exceptional talent is in your voice – your wide range, the textures you conjure, and your fearlessness in reaching for high notes. This is evident in your cover of Minnie Riperton’s “Lovin’ You“ and the YouTube video where you turn it into a humorous lament about being out of mayonnaise. How did this come about?

One fateful eve in the middle of the pandemic, I opened up my mayonnaise jar only to discover it was empty. The flood of emotions conjured up the vision behind Minnie/Mayo, a pandemic passion short that pays homage to my love for Minnie Riperton and mayonnaise. Hey, Hellmann’s, if you’re listening, please sponsor me. I love you.

You were just in Los Angeles working on a new album. What can we expect from this, and when will it be released? And where can locals see you next in concert?

I am! Did I send you my itinerary? I almost don’t want to say too much because it all feels so sacred right now. I’m making my debut album with a brilliant team in L.A. The album consists of songs I’ve carried with me for a while. Coming back to these songs with the foresight I have now, it all feels so meta. Ultimately, it feels like a gift to myself to be making this record today. I can’t wait for the world to hear it. But I also can because I love the process and don’t want it to end!

This column is dedicated to young creatives, a generation dealing with both a high cost of living and, for musicians, a reduced ability to earn money by selling their music and the high cost of touring. How are you coping with the challenges? Do you have to work a side gig or two to make ends meet?

Yeah, it’s wild out there. Artists of all tiers are canceling tours and crowdfunding the things that used to earn us money. 

I’m fortunate that the work or “side gigs“ I do are all things I enjoy and that feel like an extension of my art. I teach voice to students, which informs and inspires my own practice. I sing to seniors with Alzheimer’s and Dementia, both one-on-one and in concert, through a business I started called Bridge to the Soul. I do vocal session work for commercials and other people’s records.

When I moved to Hudson from The City, I left a lot of my income. I moved in the midst of SXSW, a national tour, and a record release, so the shift didn’t register until it was too late. I had to get really scrappy really fast. I made fliers for voice lessons and put them up all around town. It’s a constant hustle. Dry months, dry months, and, yeah, more dry months. But my time is important. I love the work I do, and it allows me the time to work on music, along with all the hats required for being an independent artist. This includes admin, strategy, writing, demoing, practicing, recording, booking, touring, etc. You’re a full-time octopus that also needs to ground and somehow channel the gods from time to time.  

Over time, I realized how the separate pieces of my life were related. The work becomes integrated. The other week, I was in a writing session for a pop artist and referred to a songwriting tactic used in “Blue Skies,“ a standard I sing for my seniors. It became the missing link in cracking the code of a chorus. It’s cool when dots connect, and things start to feel integrated. The only way to get there is to be honest about “How do I want to spend my time? When I’m making money/when I’m not making money? What feels sustainable and joyful?“ 

I’d encourage young creatives to get “creative“ about their unique skills and gifts and find services + markets that may not necessarily be paved around them. For example, Hudson Valley artist/singer/producer writes and produces commissioned birthday tracks and has a blast doing it! Hit her up if you want to gift someone you love the coolest, most wholesome birthday or anniversary gift (not an overstatement). 

Do you have any interesting pre- or post-show rituals?

I do a vocal warmup, though, usually earlier in the day before I talk. After soundcheck, I like to get in my body through movement. Bump a track in my headphones and dance around the greenroom, get a little primal, a little weird. When changing or doing makeup, I listen to Beth Gibbons’ “Out of Seasons“ to ground my nervous system. Backstage, if nerves get the better of me, I do a deep breathing exercise where I inhale for four and exhale for eight, repeat until my breath is steady and I’m ready to hit the stage. 

What are some of your favorite things to do, non-musical activities, in the Hudson Valley?

Swimming across the lake with Jess, walking in Greenport, sitting in my sunroom and spacing out to the birds, saving baby squirrels, doing tremor workshops, dancing with friends at dinner, sweating in movement classes, and free-writing by the river. 

What is missing in the Hudson Valley that you wish we had?

An affordable massage spot! 

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

If I had one superpower, it would be to sit in a cafe and be able to hone in on any conversation of my choosing and eavesdrop. It’s not glamorous, altruistic or practical, but I dream about it often. 

For the latest on beccs, visit her EPK, check out her latest release, Stay Moist here or visit her at @beccsmusic  | beccsmusic.com

Photos by Eleanor Petry + Jen Vesp + Zaffira Medici + Frank Theodore + Sarai Garcia (Featured)

Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer, and former publicist living in Saugerties.