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.