Ben Marwood is a singer songwriter with a guitar and potential. In his new album Get Found Ben preaches and moans, he’s a bit Del Amitri. His singing slows into talking quickly. There’s some nice chords, some gentle soothing stuff, but there is an awkwardness to his music, which in some way is an interesting quirk, but in other ways offputting. The timing often seems mistimed, he attempts too many words in verse, the pauses last too long, the transitions within any given song don’t fit. I find it curious that Ben tends to grind his voice at times, he rasps. Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum used to rasp well, but Ben sounds discordant when he does it. Is it that he can’t find certain notes? ‘If you can’t find em grind em’ said an old school friend, joking on the clutch technique of the old bus driver who used to take us to college. Or does the rasping denote passion? Within what he strums and sings, I can feel a kernel of genius. I can feel the makings of the soundtrack to a cute mobile phone advert, and enough money to shack up in Ibiza, and become neighbours with James Blunt. Only I get the impression that Marwood isn’t into that, he seems too genuine to be aiming for that, which makes me warm to him. I hope he does well, but this album is at best a stepping stone.
Ben Marwood’s Get Found is released on 7th April 2017.