Album Review Week ∞ Ben Sollee: Learning To Bend

I wish I could say I was the first music blogger to sing the praises of Ben Sollee. According to Elbo.ws, that would be 37 Flood. If you haven’t yet heard Ben, you are missing out.

Sollee plays the cello like it’s more than just an orchestral instrument. He plays it like a rock star. Comparisons to Andrew Bird are inevitable because of the instruments they play and their voices have a similar quaver at times.

Lyrically, Ben’s debut album has a little bit of everything. From the political opener – If You’re Gonna Lead My Country – to the nonsense of Bury Me In My Car to the lovely – Copper And Malachite

Ben takes elements of folk, jazz, pop, rock and traditional string music to make some of the most engaging music I have heard this year.

Rating: Magnum Opus =
Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness
(Confused about the ratings scale? Check out my sidebar.)

Watch:
Live from Paste
Live fro Silver Lake Lodge

Listen:
Hear the song “A Change Is Gonna Come” on my 2008 Summer Mix.

Further study:
myspace
Wiki
YouTube

More MP3s:
Hype Machine
Elbows

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