Ben and Bruno - 100 Grim Reapers

Here on the site I posted about a couple albums from the group Wixel and through the fact that visitors from You Disappear went to check out his music he found the site here and decided to write in with a suggestion and it was a great one. He pointed me to this great release from an artist I was previously unfamiliar with, Ben and Bruno. The story behind the groups music is a bit strange and leads you to wonder more about them but I appreciate a little mystery behind music I listen to. The story, as taken from their myspace page is as follows:

“ben and bruno" is a group of songs based around one character named BEN. After losing his mother at a very young age, Ben is abducted by an unstable woman renting the room beneath him and his father (both men have fallen for her). Ben, during his trip (while fleeing from the police), becomes completely infatuated with the woman. The story continues after the capture of the woman as he grows older.... acquiring/losing a dog/best friend (BRUNO), marrying, having two daughters, divorcing. And so on.”

The music reminds of some of the more gentle songs from Mount Eerie and the only reason I say this is to give you a frame of reference. Its simple approach leaves you feeling at peace and its playful yet poignant lyrics draw me in and leave me wanting to listen to it over and over. It was this type of subtle often overlooked gentle recording and songwriting that made me want to start up a site to feature them in an environment full of like minded music. This is great music for the beginning of this spring season as it reminds me of sitting in a quiet field somewhere, breeze blowing tall grass around and the silence of the landscape singing along...

While the CD is now sold out because of its handmade production there is a few vinyl copies left from what I have read and despite not having any extra money at all to spend I ordered a copy anyway. Digital versions of these songs do exist on emusic and they also have a podcast with a ton of live recordings and different versions of their music which can be found in the iTunes podcast listings.

Artist Page (and myspace page)

Tags: Ben and Bruno