mr ben and the bens

Do you ever find yourself falling down various rabbit holes following links on sound cloud and turning up various gem and unheralded nuggets lurking, hidden away on band camp pages. I’d say we were a prime culprits of such rambles, this particular stroll unearthing the curiously wonky talents of Mr Ben and the Bens. Now aside the obvious attraction of the bands name, we were quite taken with something that might be considered to be, a bit of an oldie. This is ‘blister in the morning’, a track that literally beams betrayingly with a wonderfully skewed 60’s floweriness and the kind of smoky lazy eyed recline that lulls with a softly sunbursting effervescence to catch you off guarded, we here are thinking Donovan. Anyhow this hatched a year or so ago, a little more up to date, is a new set going by the name ‘music for breakfast’ (look what you’ve started now Eno), a strangely alluring curio heading out of a Sheffield bedroom and something which a tape of which, I’m sad (cue gnashing teeth and pretend smile pose) to say has long since vacated the shop. Something we here have taken to with affectionate gusto I’m not afraid to say, instrumentaling doodles from the brief listen we’ve sneaked for ourselves, ‘Eggs’ particularly cute and cosily turned with a loop grooving lolloping lilt of the type that’ll drive you to adoring distraction and will perhaps have the more eagle eared among you, musing on its tinkerish kinship to those woodcut fancies that occasionally fall out of the Sonido Polifonico imprint, ahem, James Green and the likes and something that’s certainly cut with a soundtrack vintage with which to backdrop a Postgate / Firmin stop motion to. Those with a fond ache for the much missed L’Augmentation might find a solace with the appearance of ‘Sausages’ with its chirpily parping library sounds palette while does adoring their sounds somewhat teased in a spraying of lunar pastoral posies wouldn’t go amiss tuning into the parting sweetie, the Plone-esque ‘oranges’ not least for its tingling Testcard / Ceefax – ish nostalgic kiss. https://soundcloud.com/mr-ben-the-bens