Ben Baker Martin

Wanting a more personal and intimate body of work, Ben Baker Martin has turned his music into a place of meditation. Inspired by lock down and feelings of isolation, he catharses his anxieties into ‘Lady Apron’. Uncharacteristically playing with dynamics and melodies, the album captures the intensity of this solitary life we’re leading, simply bottling it up and “not being able to shout and scream”. Being forced to whisper out your rage, its a show not tell album. The shivers that creep up your spine tell you more than a raucous sing-along chorus ever would. Ben writes, records and produces alone, ‘Lady apron and his emotions’ was meant to be a band name ! Using enough drum machines and online samples to sound like a small army, he’s just one man in his bedroom ! Alone but never lonely, always accompanied by unwavering dedication and passion that drive him to produce such intricate work.

With a huge focus on using an emotional palette as well as a musical one, it’s something we haven’t heard from Ben. Compared to his Nine Inch Nails ode ‘artificial tear’, this new album feels tender, speaking from a place of vulnerability. Constantly alternating between a headspace filled with either hope or dread. Echoing the mood of the moment and connecting us, all holed up in our bedrooms, with his. The first third is Ben’s take on ‘in Rainbows’ (consequently my favourite Radiohead album), back in 07 it was ground breaking. It wasn’t a sequel or a prequel and it held its own. The most poignant motif that runs through ‘in rainbows’ is reflected in ‘Lady apron’: finding beauty from alienation.

4 tracks in, ‘Lupines’ breaks the fast with a woozy, eardrum-tickling drawl, with synthesized vocals that freshen up the ‘fresh cream’ riffs. This is my stand out track, the solos are clear and defined, shining a light on his proficiency as a guitarist. Ben’s influences are drenched in 60s/70s rock, having the Clapton and Hendrix nods create another dimension to the track. The blues vacuum is an anomaly but never feels out of place, sucking you further into his world.

‘Slit Lamps’ follows with a jazzier, more fluid guitar line walking all over a ‘whiplash’ drum beat, the juxtaposition between the sci fi romance melody and the jazz rhythm section is mind expansion of the best kind. The song lifts you from your feet and floats you away. Like a lazy river, drifting to a space that for the past 3 months has seen unreachable.

Jumping from genre to genre, decade to decade, ‘Kasam’ is the grungy, sub pop records track that induces Goosebumps, expecting it to pop up in ‘singles’ at any second.  The acoustic undercurrent keeps the track feeling human and organic, against the faint whines and drones of the drum machine. Layers upon layers of instrumentation, it’s a five man show. Bouncing ideas off all the ‘Bens’ and embracing every personality. There are so many variations of Ben Baker Martin. With this album, he embracing them all. Sitting down with them, chatting and jamming together and giving each one the time and respect they all deserve.

With ‘Hombine Carvester’ Ben is uncoiling into his ‘artificial tear’ era.The 80s metal fuzz is as bracing as cold water to the face. Battling against this horror movie cycle of synth notes, the Victorian lullaby finally explodes into a harpsichord thrash, It’s unnerving ! Almost like a choral composition, heightening the sense haunting, making my hairs stand on end. Straight into ‘Kissglass’, the mulched-up guitar and drum machine represents the album’s dip into ‘Ghosts V: Together’-style electronics.

‘Please leave quietly’ makes the last three tracks feel like a separate EP. A completely different album to the first half, if this wasn’t Ben, i think we’d all be a bit stumped. But that’s the beauty of ‘Lady apron’, each track has its own character yet they all work in harmony. There’s nothing that couldn’t be there, each track feeds off each other. Like linking opener ‘Embers’ and the finale by the voicemail effect, the faint vocals create a circle narrative. Distorting his words without blurring his message. The ups and downs we feel right now are all condensed into 9 songs, our chests rise and fall to the beat of his. One minute we’re coming up for air, only to be dragged back down to his chamber of synths and fuzz pedals. For the duration of the album,  we’re thrown from emotion to emotion, ‘Lady apron’ plays with fear and fragility in a way I haven’t experienced since ‘Paranoid’. Using the dynamics not just in sound, but in genre creates a heightened sense of reality, every sensation is amplified. Like Ben, we are all in a place of vulnerability, but we trust him and no matter how haunting the tracks become, with Ben guiding us, there is nothing to be afraid of.

‘Lady apron and his Emotions’ is out on all major platforms now and keep updated with Ben on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gigsy_darzust/. Let us know what you think and leave an ICM Star Rating out of 10.