New Music from the amazing Ben Blackett

Dateline.. More Dope Music ….New Music from the amazing Ben Blackett… He continues with the reintroduction of KruatRock, a collage of electronic sounds, rock music, and psychedelia, it’s a style that is a blend of characteristic improvisation and hypnotic, minimalistic rhythms. Another Retro Inspired

Everyone and everything is connected in both giant and tiny ways, and every action we take can have ripples far beyond what we envision. This idea and philosophy of living is what I wanted to explore in more depth and detail within this album.  Each song tackles a unique element of choice within our lives – a tiny almost insignificant decision we might make on a whim – and explores how it manifests within our lives with greater and greater impact.  I take each song through a metamorphosis as I explore these tiny choices we make and where they might lead us.

Illumination starts small like a tiny spark that is barely noticed, but soon grows and flourishes with new life as it matures, gifting its energy and abundant light to those who witness it.  With the arpeggios taking over in the middle of the song, I imagined this spark becoming a roaring flame, powerful and majestic in its own right as it reaches its fullest intensity.  But then it shifts slightly near the end, and its energy morphs from always consuming and growing, to be more benevolent in nature.  It slows down ever so slightly to hot smoldering coals and begins to nourish those around it instead, allowing their light and energy to shine as brightly as its own once did.  Giving new life and honoring its own beginning.

Air, the second song, is about a wistful and restless longing that is never quite satisfied.  Always searching, looking, wanting, but never quite finding.  The imagery in my mind was of leaves blowing in the wind in random swirls and eddies – soft, playful, inquisitive, directionless – but always there and never ceasing, never finding a home or finding rest.  The vocals and lyrics were performed by my wife many years ago, and I had been waiting for just the right song to use them on – a theme which fits the spirit of this song completely.  Air gives us a deeper understanding of the dichotomy of commitment and restlessness – of what it means to be always searching, hungry for something new, and never quite satisfied with the richness and variety of what’s right there in front of you.

The Gathering starts off with a thunderous storm close by and continues to slowly build in intensity throughout the beginning of the song.  The imagery in my mind when writing this song was of a dark formless power that is ever so slowly consuming energy from its surroundings, always growing and building in intensity and hungry for more to feed on.  However, when the storm finally lets loose in the middle of the song, the experience is one of enlightenment, relief and uplifting feelings instead – timid and tentative at first, but soon growing steady and strong. This song is about being open to change and giving space to the storms raging inside us.  The deep soulful healing that can happen when we embrace the ferocity and energy the storms inside us churn up.  It ends with the same thunderclap it begins with, but this time it’s a catharsis and relief, as it is no longer threatening.  This song explores the notion that we must accept, experience, and give space to the emotional storms within us, instead of running from them or pushing them away.

Inner Space explores the world of the mind and how unique each perspective truly is.  I wanted to create a space to wander and explore – a world within that we create ourselves.  The main arpeggio in the beginning consists of notes going upward, signifying an exploration and uplifting intent.  Halfway through, a new arpeggio comes into focus with downward descending notes – an almost identical pattern but simply reversed in direction.  The two play together and complement each other, creating a new feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction that had not been there before.  My intent with this song was to represent the duality of yin and yang and that it is only by combining and sharing both of these energies in harmony, that we find lasting fulfillment and harmony in our world.

Gravity is about what happens when two swirling energies merge and become one.  The low frequencies of the bass and drums give it a powerful kinetic energy as its foundation – providing a mood of intention and purpose.  The single simple down beat denotes an engine or process at work behind the scenes that is ultimately driving towards an end goal.  The lyrics, sung by my amazing wife, and the strings/ambience of the higher frequencies, lend an air of majesty and bring an emotional intensity to the song.  For the final segment, I wanted the listener to experience a of sense of soaring higher and higher up into the clouds, accompanied by those deep kinetic frequencies which take us to their ultimate conclusion. At the end, there is a sense of profound release and an introspective look back – almost haunting in nature – as one begins to understand how intimately and thoroughly entangled you now are.

An Angels Love is a special one for me. I wanted to capture a feeling of complete and utterly engulfing love – a sense of peace, belonging, and rightness that only happens when someone freely gives it to you.  A child’s sense of  safety, a parents overwhelming love, an angel healing the world – these images poured through me as I wrote this song.

Ben’s eventual return to music occurred in early 2017 when he introduced his children to exploring and writing songs using Propellerhead’s Reason. Feeling the strong pull of his own childhood creative outlet tugging at him once again, he decided to actively renew his love of all things electronic music and began writing once more. Over the following year, Ben focused on defining his new sound and upgrading some of his older work.  His debut album “Unbound” released in December of 2018, is an expression of this new found musical freedom and renewal. The album received high praise and recognition for its genre-bending fresh sound and high production quality, and helped launch his new social media presence. With his background in audio engineering, a successful album under his belt, a growing fan base, and a backlog of creative work to draw from, it was not long before he caught the attention of Italian label Ox-zone Records – a spinoff from well known artist Dyodho – and began working with them on additional releases.  Ben’s early musical influences include Enigma, Tangerine Dream, Orbital, Pink Floyd, U2, Peter Gabriel, Deep Forest and Enya. Later influences include Ryan Farish, Nigel Stanford, Ulrich Schnauss, Suduaya, Bluetech, and many other

Take a listen to his music on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ww8kpXiC8UHaWWONYlMJg

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blackettmusic

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