The Fishermen Three return after more than a decade with Infinite Feeling, their most expansive and collaborative work to date. Led by singer-songwriter Simon Beins (formerly of NYC’s The Wowz) and longtime drummer/collaborator Raphi Gottesman (a veteran of the anti-folk circuit and Bay Area indie scene), the band has always thrived on communal energy.
Here, they push that ethos to the limit, pulling together a circle of friends, fellow travelers, and musical kindred spirits from both coasts.
The story of Infinite Feeling begins with Beins’ unrecorded songbook, material that had piled up while he was focused on film scoring in Hawaii. When he and Gottesman reconnected, they realized the songs demanded a proper home.
Enter a who’s-who of Bay Area collaborators—Jeff Moller, Josh Housh, Michael James Tapscott, Graham Patzner—who joined them at Oakland’s 25th Street Recording. Over three days, they cut the basic tracks straight to tape, capturing a live warmth that permeates the record.
Months of overdubs followed at The Garden Shed and beyond, with a stunning roster of guest contributors: Jack Johnson, Heidi Alexander (Earth Girl Helen Brown), David Tattersall (The Wave Pictures), members of The War on Drugs and Herman Dune, and many more.
The mixing (by Chris Peck) and mastering (by David Glasebrook) tie the far-flung threads into something cohesive and timeless.
The album is true to its title: a meditation on the boundless textures of emotion, drifting between folk intimacy, hypnagogic pop haze, and soulful Americana. Think the dusty warmth of Michael Nau, the lyrical clarity of Bill Callahan, and the pastoral grooves of Hiss Golden Messenger, all filtered through a scrappy DIY heart.
The lead single, “Out of Style,” leans into sun-faded retro-pop, cheekily celebrating the freedom of ignoring trends. “Electricity,” lit up by David Tattersall’s lead guitar, shimmers with innocence and wisdom drawn from a dream of Beins’.
And “Light in the Wake of Love,” a resurrected gem from The Wowz era, blooms into something communal and transcendent, with strings from Patzner, duet vocals by Alexander, and a breathtaking guitar solo from Johnson.
Another highlight is “I’ve Been a Fool,” the song that most clearly channels the John Wesley Harding–era Dylan the band points to as an influence. It’s carried by a bluesy, blistering guitar solo and some of the record’s most cutting lyrics. “You can’t be that cool / riding shotgun with a goddamn fool,” Beins sings.
One last track worth highlighting is “Your World Is Nothing Without You,” which drapes a cosmic American sound over shimmering pop textures. At the risk of sounding grandiose, its melodic purity carries a distinctly Beatle-esque glow, sweet, timeless, and effortlessly radiant.
Raphi Gottesman was the one who tipped me off about this record, so I half-expected the off-kilter anti-folk energy of his other project, Pacific Walker. But Infinite Feeling takes a very different turn. Instead of raw eccentricity, the album leans into a more approachable indie folk palette. It’s still full of quirks, but anchored by sharp songwriting and melodies that feel strange in just the right ways, musically straighter yet no less compelling.
Infinite Feeling is the work of old friends pulling new ones into the fold, of songs that waited for just the right moment to be sung, and of a band that, after years apart, still finds its truest self in collaboration.
Royal Oakie Records has given it the release it deserves on CD, cassette, and digital, reminding us that some feelings really are infinite.
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