Hopefully I get more than one post done in a week but at least I'm building back up to regular activity. I'm finally writing about a artist that I came across last winter some time and have a reminder in my phone since to write about. So you might be already aware of Ben Glover but have you heard my thoughts!!
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Ben is one of those who music and outlook fit very snugly into the Eirecana genre. His style and influences are a mix of both traditions from across the Atlantic. He cites that so himself describing playing his first sessions as a young teenager in Co. Antrim and slipping in the songs of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. This connection between the music and character of roots, americana and Irish music is probably described best in Ben's bio on his website: "In the summers during studying law at university he paid his way across the Atlantic by performing Irish folk ballads, the songs of Christy Moore and The Pogues in the bars in Boston, while back home in the pubs of Ireland he was singing Dylan and Springsteen." I have often talked on this blog about my belief in that special connection yet indescribable connection between the sound of traditional and roots in American and Ireland. To give you a flippant fact to argue my case, would there be any other country in the world that 500,000 tickets would be sold for a country artist (Gareth Brooks). Whatever that relationship is, Ben Glover recognises it too and it has become the basis of his latest release: Atlantic.
"Atlantic" is not Ben's first record. By the time of the release of his latest in September, he had a number of records under his belt including "The Week The Clock Changed, Through the Noise, Through the Night" and "Before the Birds", the latter having been released after he moved to Nashville to pursue the music full-time. He also married a Mississippi woman which I imagine gives a better perspective on the relationship and similarities between the music of his native land and that of the southern States.
His music up to Altantic could be described as singer-songwriter fare. Some of the tracks I have listened to on the albums are acoustic guitar led, americana melodies with his very earnest voice shining throughout. If you're looking for comparisons, well I wouldn't much further than Josh Rouse or Josh Ritter. For Atlantic, Ben relocated to his childhood holiday home of Ballyliffin in Co Donegal to record. It is obvious that the surroundings and I'm sure the many memories had an influence on the recording.
My favourite track on "Atlantic" is the belter "Too Long Gone". The song kicks into action straight away. The vocal refrain helps build up to a addictive chorus. With the backing vocals adding a hint of soulful mourning to the melody, the song reels you in and then enfurls you in its arms.
In a number of interviews Ben done for the album, the theme of finding your place in the world and that yearning for home has been mentioned.
The opener "This world is a dangerous Place" has a ambivalence about it. You're not sure if he is saying you should never leave home or telling you to get out there and live your life anyway. The melody is simple, but still requires your attention. A special little song.
The hymn-like "Oh Soul" immediately follows "This World is a Dangerous Place". As has been described before it feels like a hymn of the 21st century. A song that feels like it belongs in that baptism scene in "O Brother, where arth thou?"The album is not all soulful musing or musical eulogies, "Sing a Song Boys" is simple in design and execution and is al the better for it. A foot-tapin' sing-along that seems at home in one of those sessions Ben started out in his musical career all those years ago.
It really is a wonderful piece of work. The production by Neilson Hubbard should be commended, the arrangements for both vocals and instruments are superb. Atlantic is a record that help shapes that relationship between musical styles from two countries either sides of that vast ocean.
To learn more about Ben's thought's on making Atlantic, you can here a interview with him on the always excellent "Country Fried Rock" podcast. His official site is here where you have listen to snippets of many of his tracks and buy the albums too. He is also on Facebook and Soundcloud too.
"Atlantic" is not Ben's first record. By the time of the release of his latest in September, he had a number of records under his belt including "The Week The Clock Changed, Through the Noise, Through the Night" and "Before the Birds", the latter having been released after he moved to Nashville to pursue the music full-time. He also married a Mississippi woman which I imagine gives a better perspective on the relationship and similarities between the music of his native land and that of the southern States.
His music up to Altantic could be described as singer-songwriter fare. Some of the tracks I have listened to on the albums are acoustic guitar led, americana melodies with his very earnest voice shining throughout. If you're looking for comparisons, well I wouldn't much further than Josh Rouse or Josh Ritter. For Atlantic, Ben relocated to his childhood holiday home of Ballyliffin in Co Donegal to record. It is obvious that the surroundings and I'm sure the many memories had an influence on the recording.
My favourite track on "Atlantic" is the belter "Too Long Gone". The song kicks into action straight away. The vocal refrain helps build up to a addictive chorus. With the backing vocals adding a hint of soulful mourning to the melody, the song reels you in and then enfurls you in its arms.
In a number of interviews Ben done for the album, the theme of finding your place in the world and that yearning for home has been mentioned.
The opener "This world is a dangerous Place" has a ambivalence about it. You're not sure if he is saying you should never leave home or telling you to get out there and live your life anyway. The melody is simple, but still requires your attention. A special little song.
The hymn-like "Oh Soul" immediately follows "This World is a Dangerous Place". As has been described before it feels like a hymn of the 21st century. A song that feels like it belongs in that baptism scene in "O Brother, where arth thou?"The album is not all soulful musing or musical eulogies, "Sing a Song Boys" is simple in design and execution and is al the better for it. A foot-tapin' sing-along that seems at home in one of those sessions Ben started out in his musical career all those years ago.
It really is a wonderful piece of work. The production by Neilson Hubbard should be commended, the arrangements for both vocals and instruments are superb. Atlantic is a record that help shapes that relationship between musical styles from two countries either sides of that vast ocean.
To learn more about Ben's thought's on making Atlantic, you can here a interview with him on the always excellent "Country Fried Rock" podcast. His official site is here where you have listen to snippets of many of his tracks and buy the albums too. He is also on Facebook and Soundcloud too.