“A shivering seabed of sound, haunted by barely there vocals and stitched together with lo-fi production.”
Jude Rogers, THE GUARDIAN
Ben is an ambient/folk musician originally from The Wirral but now residing in Nottingham. He combines acoustic instruments with computer processing to create folk inspired soundscapes.
Ben has been writing music since his teens, with just a basic grasp of guitar and even more basic recording equipment. Over the years he’s picked up more instruments and slightly better recording gear, and is most often found in his home studio working on new stuff- but can occasionally be spotted live- see gig listings to the right.
Since 2016 Ben has released 9 albums and numerous eps. They are all available via Bandcamp.
Short film - Widdershins & Deosil
In late summer 2024 I headed out to Derbyshire with filmmaker Benjamin Wigley (who has worked with Benjamin Zephaniah and Nathaniel Mann amongst others) to shoot a short film on 16mm black and white film. We had a rough sketch of what we were going to do, how we were going to use the limited film rolls, but there was also an element of improvisation- including the conclusion to the film.
The puppet, Widdershins, was whittled (at least his head was) with help from Nottingham woodwork studio By Our Hands We Make Our Way... the first puppet head I've ever tried to carve! The result was rather primitive but the process was very therapeutic..
... as has been the composing of the music.. and I've been very lucky to be able to work with a couple of artists I admire greatly- fantastic folk guitarist and composer (and has recorded on records by Jacken Elswyth, Elizabeth Still and more) Nick Jonah Davis. The middle of the film features a dual guitar jam recorded at Nicks shed studio. The end of the film features the haunting vocals of Debbie Armour (Burd Ellen) recorded, again from a jam, at my favourite studio- JT Soar in Nottingham
Elkwort available for pre-order
Out on 28th April on Laaps.
This album evolved from long improvisations on pump organ and cello.
I really wanted to play the instruments as a form of therapeutic release, a kind of stimming, paying more attention to this than the Appollonian aspects of the music. So scrape and repetition… anger and using the bow/keys to really try to gnaw into deep, old brain feelings.
I often start things with improvisations, but then tidy, smooth things out… I wanted to keep that aspect to the minimum here.. there is some, but where possible I’ve kept the squeaks, the noises, the mistakes.
The project took on another dimension when I received some funding from PRS Foundation, allowing me to bring more artists (Debbie Armour on vocals, Elinor Rowlands on spoken word and Nick Jonah Davis on guitar). Where possibly, these collaborations were also improvised, in the moment and left a little raw.
“I’m loving this at the moment.” - Zakia Sewell, Dreamtime 6 Music.
“A shivering seabed of sound, haunted by barely there vocals and stitched together with lo-fi production.”
— THE GUARDIAN
“Experimental lo-fi folk music at it's very best.”
— LEFTLION MAGAZINE
“An evocatively curated and wonderfully weird album.”
— SONGLINES MAGAZINE
“Reengaging with the old, he has created something truly unique.”
— KLOF MAGAZINE