London-based artist Benji Taylor has spent the last year holed up in his home studio, writing tons of new musical creations. Benji explains “after a long time of trying to decide which songs felt right to put out first, I took a list of 68 demos down to a final 24 (all set for release this year). During this year I faced quite a few hurdles and changes in my personal life. From trying to maintain a healthier and sober lifestyle, battling addictions and mental health issues; to sadly losing my mother back in October 2022, all the while trying to adjust to the hectic London City life and find my own new “purpose” in the rat race”.
After the creation process, four of the tracks are ready this month for release on an EP titled “T//M//A//W”. Benji continues “the EP has somehow fallen together with each song bringing to light the challenges and changes across that time period. The overall tone of the record is personal and surrounded in self-reflection; giving a sense of imperfection and vulnerability yet being comfortable, making it ideal for my debut solo release”.
The recording open’s with “Take A Seat” and if you are familiar with last year’s EP “Be Fine” you will know Benji has always been a heart-on-the-sleeve type of guy, who is self-diagnostic about his own situations. His honesty and openness to talk about these issues is a credit to him and while it helps him come to term with these issues, it also helps others confront their only demons. “Take a Seat” is the first step to confronting mental health issues, along with facing addictions and also with trying to make sense of how your head works. Here there is some experimenting with a new sound, gentle rhythms and some understated guitar work with main focus on the voice and the lyrics.
As well as having to deal with all of the above Benji tragically lost his Mother and the loss of a parent at any age is devastating, he explains “this song is a reflection of the day my mum passed away. I travelled down from London super early to Bournemouth when I heard the terrible news she had been taken to hospital. It is a mix of the shock of the situation#; the disbelief and the guilt, using alcohol and drugs to try and disconnect from reality to cope”. Track two is a song called “Melatonin”; which is a natural hormone that is produced by the pineal gland that is located in your brain and it helps control your sleep cycle. The song puts into perspective the events leading up to and after his Mother’s death.
There is some wonderfully atmospheric shoegaze-style guitar, which gingerly takes us through the maze of events. The lyrics are delivered beautifully with emotive energy and captures the rawness of his loss and the consequence. The song delivers the cleverly penned lyric “hell-bent on finding fortune in familiar ways”. The subliminal chatter in the background adds to the confusion that this event has caused.
Track three “Almost” Benji explains “is a conversation. Where your partner or someone you love is trying to help you get better and go through these tough times, yet you keep slipping back and being essentially rude and dismissive of the situation. Therefore causing arguments, issues and in turn hurting yourself and those around you; almost losing sight of what really matters”. The fallout from the loss continues here and the track with its gentle infectious guitar lines, along with its constant rhythms show some nice musical construction. As I’ve said previously, the vocals are along the lines of Placebo’s Brian Molko; soft but forthright.
The final track from this collection is “Wastrel” and thankfully we end on a more positive note as Benji puts in “okay things are a bit of a mess, but I can deal with it. It’s where you start to find some footing on that uphill battle”. It kicks off with some gentle acoustic guitar and reminds me of some that Snow Patrol might produce, with some nice harmonies. The track slowly builds and builds to a bright crescendo and it’s possibly one of the first tracks of his that I feel would really would suit radio play. There are plenty of independent radio stations in London, get the track out there and who knows where things might lead.
The step of Benji becoming completely a solo artist is a brave one and he has intensified himself with some of his own ideas; fashioning his own sound that is certainly showing a few new twists and turns after the last EP. It’s with anticipation we await further material and as the current dark clouds lift, a new positive dawn is awaiting for this young talent.
Track Listing
Take A Seat
Melatonin
Almost
Wastrel
Spotify pre-save here.
Links
https://www.facebook.com/benjidoesmusic
https://linktr.ee/benjidoesmusic
Words by David Chinery
