Patterner by Golden Brown

Golden Brown is the solo endeavors of Stefan Beck (also of Prairiewolf affiliation). Patterner is his fifth album for Inner Islands and marks the first return of Sara Beck on cello since 2021’s Gems and Minerals. It also finds him drawing heavy inspiration from the work of Ursula K. Le Guin, and specifically from the Earthsea series. The approach is not unlike Bo Hansson’s wonderful homage to Lord of the Rings with Sagan om Ringen from 1970. The songs are each inspired by and reflect specific characters, places, or circumstances in the books. Stefan says, “I have read and re-read those six books over and over, finding new worlds within them each time. At some point, I became fascinated with the character of the Master Patterner. He lives apart from the other masters in the Immanent Grove and his craft is deeply tied to the natural world and the balance of life.” And one doesn’t have to look far to see the scales tipping out of balance and the ways in which humans are becoming more and more parasitic with their environment.

Le Guin’s inclusive approach to writing in the Earthsea series also doesn’t rely on violence as a narrative mechanism, opting for a more aspirational reality. Her voice and work are just as apt now as ever as our society is embracing state-sanctioned violence, authoritarianism, and disregard for the clear signs of climate change and calamity. Stefan relates, “For me, Ursula K. Le Guin's voice and these stories speak to something beyond words. They have affected my life and my creativity in ways no other works have and I hope to reflect some of that magic in these songs.” This is an inspired collection of sounds, lighting a new flame from her spark, giving new form to that light. This quote from Le Guin has made the rounds, but is still just as relevant: “Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom – poets, visionaries – realists of a larger reality.”

Tracklist

1.	A Word Spoken By the Sunlight	2:20

2.	Cempasúchil	2:33

3.	Medra and Anieb	2:05

4.	Tehanu	1:43

5.	Dirt and Stone	3:03

6.	Patterner	6:57

7.	Selidor	2:03

8.	Roads of Balatran	1:28

9.	Creatures	2:43

10.	Hunter/Hunted	4:44

11.	The Painted Room	2:12

12.	Only Wind and Sunlight	2:21

13.	Mender	3:03

14.	Eldest	3:20

15.	Done with Doing	1:48

16.	The Lost Rune	2:04

Credits

released October 24, 2025

Stefan Beck - guitars, lap steel, keyboards
Sara Beck - cello
Mastering by Sean Conrad
Artwork by Stefan and Sean
Cempasúchil is for Sara Jean
Creatures is for Lola, Oscar, and Scout

License