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Review |
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Ben Marwood has been busy in the music scene since
2004 and has been building up a steady fan base
since then, he has had many highs such as supporting
Frank Turner, Chris T-T, Jonah Matranga, Get Cape,
Wear Cape, Fly as well as playing 2000Trees Festivals
but he has also had his fair share of lows such
as when his only guitar broke on tour and also trying
to recover from being homeless , so you can kind
of understand the title of his debut album ‘Outside
There’s A Curse’ which is due for release
on the 31st January.
‘Outside There’s A Curse’ is
a beautifully sounding honest collection of acoustic
tracks and the first thing you will notice when
you put the album on is that Ben Marwood sure
knows how to play the guitar, you will then notice
that he has a great voice to go-along with his
acoustic sound and then after a couple of tracks
or should we say by the time you get half way
through track two ‘Singalong’ you
will realise than Ben Marwood sure knows how to
pen a catchy tune and as the album progresses
you will see that Ben Marwood has nine fantastic
tunes up his sleeve with only one filler on offer.
The album opens with ‘I Will Breathe You
In’ the song is a softly spoken acoustic
rock track with a folky feeling running throughout,
the song is really beautiful sounding and Ben
Marwood’s vocals are so damn good.
‘Singalong’ is pretty much what the
title says, it is a beautiful sounding singalong
acoustic track where Ben Marwood fully shines
with his guitar playing, beautiful melodic vocals
and fantastic written lyrics about playing folk
clubs, growing beards, trying to be the next big
thing whilst writing singalong songs which people
forget the words to, which to me sounds like a
honest song about the rise of Ben Marwood as an
serious singer songwriter artist.
The shortest track on the album is ‘Shower
Of Bastards’ which runs for 1minute and
2seconds and is pretty much a spoken word track
with real minimal guitar work which comes in towards
the last 20seconds or so of the song, the song
to me seems like a filler and really does fail
to get going.
‘Oh My Days’ is a great song which
has light-hearted jabs at Ben’s own shortcomings,
the song was actually recorded live in front of
a studio audience of thirteen people and the lyrical
content will have you laughing with Ben singing
about having stupid hair, wonky teeth, being called
grumpy and playing the same four chords over again
and again, overall the song is fun, fast and catchy
sounding and the studio audience adds to the feel
of the song with them cheering a couple of times
throughout.
‘JJ Abrams’ is a smooth running catchy
track, whilst ‘Tell Avril Lavigne I Never
Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway’
is one of the best named tracks I have come across
in a while and for this alone Ben Marwood deserves
mega kudos , the track itself is quite slow paced
but Ben’s vocals are full of passion and
close to aggression in places.
The album closes with ‘The District Sleeps
Alone Tonight’ which is a cover of a song
by The Postal Service and Ben happens to give
the song a bit more of a get up and go feeling
compared to the original version of the song.
If you are a fan of Frank Turner and other acoustic
solo artists then I feel you should give Ben Marwood
a listen as he is one talented man, who deserves
to have a worthy career in music and I am just
hoping that ‘Outside There’s A Curse’
helps give the man the breakthrough that he has
been working so hard for.
4/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Ben Marwood (Guitar, Vocals) |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. I Will Breathe You In
2. Singalong
3. Toil
4. A Shower of Bastards
5. They Will Float Your Body Out To Sea
6. It's Harder Now To Break Your Stupid Heart
7. Oh My Days
8. JJ Abrams
9. Tell Avril Lavigne I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid
Boyfriend Anyway
10. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (The Postal
Service cover) |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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