Belaver and the folk rock bloody candor of "In The RL"

 

original photo by Jordan Taylor Fuller - "now that they've crowned their idiot king..."


"In The RL" exists simultaneously on Belaver's full length "Lain Prone" dropping on October 22nd on Bandcamp and on the "In The RL" EP on Spotify. The man behind Belaver is the artful, experimental, genre hybridizing NYC based singer-songwriter Ben Godfrey. A few seconds into "In The RL", a track that was informed by stepping out into the new normal after pandemic quarantines and the virulence the infested peoples thinking, as Godfrey says, "this live-tracked alt-country throwback prophetically lamenting the struggles of facing real life after total digital dependence is the final single from an LP recorded pre-pandemic". The track has lovely oddities, like for instance, a distant, vague voice in the background like dead airport announcements and lovely bits of what sounds like controlled feedback or synths that sound like controlled feedback. Godfrey on this song and others on the album has a vocal aesthetic that feels somber, sometimes even beaten down by the stupidity, and coldness of life that we can all see on a daily basis. It is not like the artful tendencies here feel suicidal, but Godfrey's acerbic wit combined with what feels like cynicism seems to illicit feelings in me, anyway, that life can be one cosmic joke. The tenderness that he brings to his perspective does feel hopeful but there is tangible social commentary in his melancholic folk pop tones. 

Interestingly, the music that favors folk and / or 70's garden rock sounds is beautifully rendered and gently stirred in with art rock and even experimental flavors. In Press notes, Godfrey's influences site Neil Young and David Bowie and alt country stars like Bill Callahan and Townes Van Zandt and that makes perfect sense to me. 

On the darkly dour but equally beautiful, "Satan's Prayer", Godfrey sings: 

"I gave my soul to satan when I was six years old / I figured he could use it more than I would / Then when I'd pray to Jesus I knew my words weren't felt / I had no soul to send them up I'd sent myself to hell" 

The song has a heavy emotional gravitas as a person viewing or feeling life as something detached from his own vessel, his own being. I am struck by the blunt candor. There is a lot of that on "Lain Prone". It is such a striking departure from the musical landscape full of cookie cutter songs that are supposed to either be darkly empowering or artfully poetic but are none of those things because they all say the same thing. Maybe it is not for the faint of heart but if you want to hear music that moves you you have come to the right place with Belaver. 

"Mount Misery" a track that feels like an amalgam of the Pixies, Tom Petty and Husker Du is a rocker that feels like a subversive earthquake that punches you in the face: 

"Even in death I still expect treasure forever for doing nothing
If I'm not entitled to be fed and be fucked
That might mean I might be the one who is what I say is my enemy"

-Robb Donker Curtius     

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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

http://www.belaver.com/

https://twitter.com/nosinging

https://www.instagram.com/belaverr/

https://belaver.bandcamp.com/album/lain-prone

https://www.facebook.com/belavermusic

Drawing influences from icons Neil Young and David Bowie as well as alt-country stars like Bill Callahan and Townes Van Zandt, Belaver creates melancholic pop music with elements of goth, folk, lo-fi, indie rock, and electronic music.

Belave (buh-lay-ve) means 'to wash all over' or 'to refresh, strengthen oneself, rest' --

Belaver (bell-ah-ver) is 'one who washes over' or 'one who is refreshing in rest.'

art rock, "In The RL", psychedelic, divergent tones, Americana, indie rock, art folk, storyteller, freak folk, Belaver, dark matter, poetic lyrics, subversive songs, full length album, "Lain Prone"

Throw a dog a bone, at least once...