AWmusic

I was able to get my hands on his EP, Give Up (2005), which I found to have elements of pop rock comparable to his former work, but that may be due to his former EP being produced entirely lo fi, and Give Up being recorded in a studio. Not to mention the track “X Ways,” probably the most “rock” Marwood has gotten, with distorted electric guitar and heavier drum beats, almost reminiscent of the pop punk scene of the late nineties. Although I haven’t heard much outside Give Up and what’s available on his myspace and official website, you can definitely hear his influences. However, he makes an original sound of his own by blending his voice with guitar that it’s almost so hard to define it (minimalist-antifolk-acoustic-angst-pop rock?). Marwood definitely puts in a lot of emotion into his music, holding a sensitivity that intrigued me, as proven with “Hold Your Breath,” “Fake It Till You Make It,” and “Oh My Days!” This emotion treads not just for the sake of having emotion; lyrically I find Marwood to be a passive aggressive covered in good humour. “Oh My Days!” would be an accurate depiction of his lyrical style: And I know something’s wrong/But I don’t know what/And I may not be alone/But it’s still life whether you like it or not/and I may give it up for fortune and for fame/But I will still be this cynical when I get paid/And I’ll be this way until I get laid/And all this is why I’m going so grey. I’m not sure whether to chuckle or to just bat an empathetic eye at the sad truth behind his humour, which is what gets to me so deeply.

Admittedly, I owe most of my appreciation of Marwood’s music to his lyrical genius. Although quite depressive, he lightens the emotional load with dry humour in some of his tracks. I don’t like to be comparative—but I obviously am—but I can definitely sense some Elliott Smith influence in Marwood’s writing. Not that that’s a bad thing; Elliott Smith was one of the most brilliant but underappreciated songwriters in history. I definitely see Marwood has a good backbone of psychology and sociology, and this is proven with songs such as “Mr Fogg’s Question Marks” and “More Good Propaganda.” It gives me a nice feeling inside to find artists who are keen to their personal self and the world around them as Ben Marwood is.

Ben Marwood – Fake It Till You Make It

Ben Marwood – Oh My Days!

Click here to download some of Ben’s tunes and his EP Give Up for free!
If you’d like to purchase some of his stuff, there are some directions on how to do so in the above link.

Check out this YouTube video of Ben covering Elliott Smith’s “No Name #1.”