Hahko FM: Ben Woods 'Dispeller'
Ben Woods inhabits his own stark & beautiful universe on his latest album.
The first of the Lyttelton songwriter / producers tracks that hooked me was the single ‘Body Rhyme’ from 2020. With its cyclical, meandering tape loop drone and instrumentation so subtle it hurt. I was bewitched.
In many ways, what I was connecting to unwittingly was the sonic equivalent of the seaside south island towns I’d spent so much of my formative years in. What some find depressing, the permanently moist, moss covered grey of the stone and concrete worn down by salt, spray and sea fog I had always found comforting and beautiful.
Emerging from the Lyttelton tunnel into a small port town covered in thick layer of sea fog and drizzle, I could think of nothing more poetically resonant than this being the day I got to sit down with Ben Woods at his hillside studio, overlooking the town, to discuss his new album Dispeller, just days before its official release.
Ben was languid, calm and quick to a grin. His studio was, as is so often the case, a reflection of his creativity. Tidy and almost minimal, with a warm wooden foundation, and scattered with interesting instruments upon closer inspection, it was a room of layers. At once a simplified distraction-free space that also held a strong aura of play and freedom.
Dispeller itself is a fusing of classic songwriting and sonic exploration that rewards those patient enough to sink further into the depths of the recordings. Like the first hints of sunrise on a cold morning, it can appear dark to the narrowly focused but upon a widening of the gaze, the sun’s early hues tinge the darkness with a warmth that feels more hopeful than hopeless.
What strikes me about the album is the use of atmosphere to accentuate, not hide, the venerability on offer from the songwriting. Dispeller offers earnest and emotive songwriting that brings with it sonic interest and complexity, making it far more re-listenable than its dryer contemporaries and noisy cousins who so often lack a song to at the foundation.
Leaving the studio and melting back into the fog I was reminded of the old sea tales, full of mystery and wonder but always grounded in natural world of wind, water and the dark ocean depths. I thought of Ben Woods, and Dispeller as the kind of music that would have been sung in the ports long gone, mystical and physical all at once.
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