Ben
+ Vesper
All
This Could Kill You (Sounds Familyre)
All This Could Kill You is a fiercely beautiful
and mysterious collaboration between husband and wife, Ben
+ Vesper, and their cast of siblings, grade school friends,
brand new friends and friendly strangers. Produced and recorded
by Daniel Smith (Danielson), this 13-song album smartly navigates
through wildly disparate genres and styles and lands squarely
in the ranks of good music that you simply cannot be without.
If Ben + Vesper must be classified, one could parse it as
such: 1/3 English Country Lane, 1/3 Croonsville, 1/16th Motown,
1/32 Brazilian Psychodelialand, 1/32 Dark Mythic Forest. All
comparisons aside, this is music that innocently holds hands
with innovation and accessibility.
The great strength of this album is the mystical connection
that is instantly apparent between the couple at the helm.
The low hum resonance of Ben's voice floats and falls through
one gorgeous melody after another, while Vesper effortlessly
breathes every harmony like a shining maiden from the nether
world. One gets the feeling that Ben + Vesper are singing
to you alone, reciting the forgotten letters of an old friend
written in a common language that lay dormant far too long.
Every song offers instrumentation that is wonderfully diverse
and concise derived from a team of formidable players, some
well known, and some who are bound to be. Sufjan Stevens quietly
sits on the floor with his banjo, woodwinds, vocals and piano
while drummer, David Smith (Danielson), punches each song
into its full dance floor potential. Daniel and his wife Elin
sing and whistle and snap and knit. But the manic men behind
the curtain are Ben's older brother Josh and Ben's lifelong
friend Chris Weisman. Together, they worked tirelessly to
forge the backdrop of sound that has you edging ever closer
to your speakers. Their arrangements are fine tuned in their
complexities, yet breathe the air of improvisation that reference
the hardship and playfulness of life while flatly condemning
the cold claws of irony that have gripped so much independent
music today.
All This Could Kill You is an album that is 100% human and
still winsome to the masses. This recording achieves what
all timeless music does: to look squarely at the sufferings
of this life and hold out hope like a weapon for all to wield,
and to have fun all the while.
“In an era heavy-laden with singleness (as the latest
statistics boast), Ben + Vesper’s beautiful, oddball
musicology is a refreshing thesis for marriage without pandering
to all the naive notions of matrimony. It’s not a record
of love on Hallmark’s terms; instead, it’s a vigilant
scrutiny of the day-today expeditions of home and work: child-rearing,
car mechanic, credit card, grade point average, and washing
machine, to name a few. In Ben + Vesper’s songs, the
standard domestic life begins to feel as grotesque as a Bukowski
poem, just without all the profanities.”
-Sufjan Stevens
"Ben's abstract yet emotive songs have been an inspiration
to me since I was in the 5th grade. Listening to the new album,
I feel like I'm at the Omni Theater and the Stampers are floating
next to a rock face. Playful but never brash, All this Could
Kill You graciously welcomes a wide listenership."
-Kurt Weisman of Feathers
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