On the Beat: New Music From Freya Yost and Kristina Stykos, Radio Bean Temporarily Closes After Fire

Indie-folk artist and Vermont native Freya Yost released her debut album, Delicate Elements, last month. It's a little surprising it took her this long, as Yost, 37, has been performing since age 12, touring with French Canadian dancer Benoit Bourque's La Danse des Enfants troupe. "I grew up surrounded by music," Yost told me recently in a Zoom conversation from her home in Italy. "Everyone around me was so busy making music, so I just started to teach myself how to play." Much of the music with which she was inundated came from Yost's mother, renowned Vermont musician and producer Kristina Stykos. Founder of the independent record label Thunder Ridge Records, Stykos has produced more than 30 albums in her home studio, Pepperbox Studio, originally in South Washington. She's released eight solo records as well, with 2018's River of Light ending up on several of Vermont's year-end best-of lists. Strangely enough, she had no idea her daughter was cooking up an album. "She showed up a couple summers ago for the family vacation and announced that she wanted to make an album," Stykos recounted by phone. "For me, it came out of the blue — I had no idea she'd been playing guitar and writing songs." Yost spent the better part of 2023 traveling between Italy and her mother's studio, now in Lincoln, laying down tracks. As mother and daughter interacted in a way that was new to both of them, they soon found themselves admiring each other's skill. "It was really cool to hear her music!" Stykos said. "Regardless of her being my daughter, I was just so fascinated to hear what she had to say as a songwriter. And her songs just captured my imagination." For Yost, it was a treat to see her mother in her element as a producer. "I was blown away watching her," Yost said. "She has total command of the whole process; she's an amazing producer. I learned so much just observing the way she works." The mother-daughter team hopes to collaborate again soon, despite their physical separation. Delicate Elements is streaming now at freyayost.bandcamp.com. Learn more about Stykos and her studio at kristinastykos.com. Radio Bean narrowly escaped a fiery fate over the weekend after an apartment above the popular Burlington nightclub caught fire. While the club itself was spared, and fortunately no one was injured in the blaze late on…