The Beat Surrender

Debut album by Leeds based singer Benjamin Wetherill, this album was recorded in Budapest and produced by Jeremy Barnes and Wetherill.

If you like your folk music delivered in a standard traditional fashion then its likely this album is not for you. While it definitely does fall into the folk genre Benjamin Wetherill has a quite unique way of delivery from the wavering (almost tremoring) vocals to the bird sound effects and extensive use of the electric guitar when an acoustic would have been the usual choice.

I’m not normally a fan of out and out folk but this album did have an almost hypnotic effect on me (or was that just that I was tired and listening in bed?) Intricate guitars with a jazz feel, many of the tracks had a slight gypsy feel perhaps it was the use of local musicians influencing this. Whatever it was I didn’t hate it or confine this to the old shoe box. (Traditional Yorkshire girl through and through I never throw anything away just in case it comes back into fashion, but if I don’t really like the music in the shoe box it goes). I may take this one out from time to time as it was very restful, not everyone’s taste but excellently written, performed and produced.