Ben
Vita | any
Label
12 13 | by Ross Rice
"New
World Electrofolk" is the musical style description proffered
on Ben Vita's MySpace. A most intriguing concept...wonder what the
hell THAT's suppose to sound like.
It turns out to be pretty accurate. "any" starts with
trashed-out distorto-drums, and vocals front and center. "From
his ground-floor walk-up, he says, 'with enemies like you, who needs
friends?'" With distant and minimal electronic rhythms and
mellow Rhodes piano chords, chords, “Rock Dove” suddenly
recalls David Essex’ “Rock On,” which, to this
particular lost soul, is not such a bad thing. What’s interesting
here, however, is how the machines have an organic chemistry; things
feel more performed than programmed. The lo-€ veneer keeps the synthetics
from getting too shiny. Good idea.
Suddenly,
a left turn. Here you seem to have a posse of Ben Vita clones, acapella
on the chain gang, singing an old-timey gospel song in falsetto
on “O Delilah.” This seems to have a nice disorienting
effect leading into “(enough is never enough for an) American,”
which returns the machinery in ominous synthesis mode, unfortunately
coming off a little heavy-handed lyrically. Good times appear on
the scene with the shiny "Dark Blonde & Light Brown,"
with a taste of summertime car music. The spirit of Bran Wilson
hovers over the party on "Harvest Time," leading into
the one song with a real rhythm section (Alanna Orr, Pete Caigan,
drums and bass respectively) aptly named "Hyperreal."
The finale, "The Rehabilitation," makes valid points,
but veers into preacher territory, with Vita spontaneously ranting
over drum patterns, unfortunately losing the musical thread.
Still,
Ben Vita maintains an identifiably friendly voice throughout this
CD, using the technology in a human fashion, avoiding the hard jump-cuts
and over-compression of much modern releases. The melodies are well-constructed,
through somewhat earnest in delivery, while the music stays engaging,
without over-reliance on gee-whiz techno gimmickry. "New World
Electrofolk" suits Ben Vita pretty well, actually.
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