Blackout Beach was conceived as a side project for prolific Vancouver-based singer/songwriter Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes, Blue Pine). Originally called "Bertrand Russell and the Country Club" it morphed into its final incarnation after the demise of Blue Pine in 2001. Similar to his hyper-literate, often doom-laden work with Frog Eyes, Blackout Beach forgoes much of latter outfit's freewheeling frenzy for a denser, more atmospheric and experimental platform. The project's first installment, Light Flows the Putrid Dawn, arrived in 2004 on the Soft Abuse label. It was followed in 2008 by Skin of Evil. ~ James Christopher Monger