The US songwriter creates a cathartic beauty out of hip-hop beats and noise storms.
The artistic endeavor of never stopping anywhere is of course absolutely praiseworthy, but at the same time it can also prove to be a pretty tough nut to crack. While Benjamin Booker spent three years fine-tuning the combination of glam rock guitars, boom bap beats and lush string arrangements on WITNESS after his self-titled garage rock debut in 2014, the nut was obviously much tougher in the case of LOWER crack.
After the constant rotation of albums like HELL ON EARTH by the harsh East Coast hip-hop duo Mobb Deep and the melodious noise of The Jesus And Mary Chains PSYCHOCANDY, he clearly had a new sound in mind – but the implementation was once again et – something else. Decisive help came from hip-hop producer Kenny Segal from LA, with whom the then Australian-by-choice LOWER worked together via digital data exchange.
The result is a record that is as dark as it is fascinatingly forward-thinking, which exudes an uplifting, powerful form of melodic sweetness between the catchy beat force, noisy scrawled electricity and acoustic lo-fi guitars, while Booker’s warm, breathy voice leads him into the abyss of an unhinged sound troubled world. Painfully beautiful!
You can find out which albums will be released in January 2025 via our monthly release list.