Ben Fox Smith and the gorgeous and curious 'Hangs a Vulture'

 

"All your water's blue at midnight / all your enemies have dispersed / all your colour's gone from the sky / all your blood just disappeared..."

I have listened to 'Hangs a Vulture' from London based Ben Fox Smith's (Stony Sleep, Serafin) 10th solo album, 'Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds', two dozen times and I still could not venture to tell you what the song is about but then, that doesn't really matter. Sonically, the track floats along on bright keys, lush pop orchestrations and Ben's comforting vocal aesthetic. He sings about ghosts, about lack of miracles and rich girls, how "Bread and roses line a crescent". The chorus "Lizards roam and cacti grow alone, in the air, in the air, in the air hangs a vulture" twists and turns in my head like an old lit rotating Motel sign offering no clarity but just a dream out of reach. 

Still, 'Hangs a Vulture' feels like it exists in another place in the same way that the dancing little person in Twin Peaks did. Melodically, musically I thought of an amalgam of Elton John (circa Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy), Flaming Lips, The Beach Boys (circa Surfs Up) and Harry Nilsson with John Lennon in heaven. 

Beautiful, sad, wonderfully curious and enchanting. Maybe a brain burst of ID, improvisational like the best jazz or not. Intriguing and inspiring.  

-Robb Donker Curtius    

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://www.facebook.com/benfoxsmtih

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5iaCn8c6uFSYH4sgMuhf7P

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3bisDVphWO30zWnXGG3i3A

https://www.instagram.com/ben_fox_smith/


Frank Black came out of the shower in a small towel, it was the first day of their tour together and Ben had not predicted the nature of his first meeting with one of his heroes.

At just 17 Ben signed to Big Cat Records (Pavement, Grandaddy) as the singer-songwriter for Stony Sleep (two Peel sessions) and produced two seminal albums which took them around the globe.

After Stony Sleep Ben formed Serafin and signed to Taste Media (Muse) and made an acclaimed album with Dave Sardy (Soulwax, Dandy Warhols).

Without compromise Ben embarked on experimental musical journeys producing 12 other albums and 2 E.Ps.

Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds is playful and poignant and is out now

Ben Fox Smith, singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, London, UK, new album 'Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds', single 'Hangs a Vulture', indie pop, avantpop, indie rock, alt pop,