Benedict October has today released his new single titled ‘Lovestruck’ from his upcoming LP ‘And Then The Ocean’. That first listen shows that I still am one of those secret dancers. The kind that swerves and winds their butt in their chair while they listen and secretly ingest that sweet groove and make the day go by quicker.
Benedict has taken this song and infused it with a unique blend of retro dance and groovy groove that incircles his voice with sweet reminiscence.
About Benedict October & ‘Lovestruck’
On ‘Lovestruck’ we learn how Benedict’s parents first met in a club. His dad was convincingly pretending to be the Dutch Tony Manero (Saturday Night Fever ‘78) and his mother immediately fell for him. On ’Lovestruck’ Benedict October paints such a vivid picture that it makes us feel like we are on the dancefloor his mother entered when his father first saw her, while he was sitting at the bar with his friends.
‘And then the ocean’ is Benedict October’s second LP, a stubborn and daring album different to grasp at first. He moved from Amsterdam to Berlin and has done his utmost to create a new and, above all, unique sound. And it’s worked. It is hard to pinpoint exactly who inspired ‘And then the ocean’, its subjects are more personal than ever, even more so then what Benedict initially had in mind. The death of his father has made a hefty impact on the artist as well as the album, resulting in bouts of big and theatrical sounds and songs. At their core, however, they remain small and vulnerable pop songs that are full of hooks and mesmerising choruses.
Artistically, ‘And then the ocean’ is an outsider, which is what makes the album so very interesting. Benedict October sings more than he has done before, he exposes himself emotionally and doesn’t shy away from the emotive and vulnerable. At times, he does so in his own, peculiar way, at others in a more energetic and fanatic way. At all times he stays close to himself and lets his listeners get very close to him.
The theme and title of the album were chosen carefully, its title portraying the feeling of being all in, or not at all. His fascination with love after death comes from the amount of time he experienced grief in his life and his view on this beautifully fascinating process. He has always seen the beauty in grieving, and wrote 15 beautiful songs about this process of which 11 are due to appear on his upcoming album.
‘And then the ocean’ i s a concept album on which the foreword surpr i ses , and the afterword gives you ample space to contemplate what you have jus t heard. In-between the two, you can find multiple chapter s s tar ting with the encounter between Benedict’ s parent s while they were dancing in a bar in the south of the Nether lands.
The attentive listener will get very close to the personal life of the singer , painfully close at times , on for example ‘Beautiful way to die’ . On ‘Insomnia’ he looks back on the relationship he had with hi s father during hi s childhood and on ‘Lust for life’ we feel a misery in which the singer finds himself that winter . After hi s LP ‘You Can Tell Me Nothing That I Should’ , ‘And then the ocean’ is a very daring, yet welcoming album. ‘And then the ocean’ comes with it s own short film, ‘Yesterday i s a dream’, visualizing the music on the album. The film i s a 16 minute long- lasting tragedy in which it s main character hopelessly goes on a ques t to find a long lost love, with the album being it s soundtrack.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/benedictoctobermusic
https://www.instagram.com/benedictoctobermusic/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6QSKRQL7F1OQPpJf6JRazP?si=WENmM1GvT_mi6sNm5hD_Hw&nd=1
https://www.youtube.com/@benedictoctobermusicofficial