Portland, OR artist Ben Larsen began his music career thirteen years ago, and as of late the singer-songwriter, and multi instrumentalist, Larsen has been busy manifesting his solo project. Through his new project, Ben has stepped into the unfamiliar role of working solo and fronting his four piece touring band. Always on the search for a deeper and more genuine understanding and connection to music and to his audience, Larsen is constantly expanding and examining his role as an musician, artist and creator. As a solo act Larsen is taking a bit of a departure from his work as frontman for now extinct Portland bands, Crow and the Canyon and Giraffe Dodgers.
His new, self produced album Turn (out November 27th) was developed with the support of many mainstays of the Portland music scene. With roots in acoustic music, Turn grew into a multi genre project creating both an honest and humbling space for Larsen to expand his musical palette. Sounds on the project range from a full string quartet and horn section, to the banjo expertise of local great Tony Furtado, to just Larsen in front of one mic with a guitar.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the new music video for the album’s title track. The video is sort is sort of sci-fi as it presents a scenario where the world is literally on the brink of destruction. As the characters find themselves savoring the last precious moments of life, for better or worse, Larsen accompanies them with a low-key and powerful Americana soundtrack. His soft and soulful vocals have a calming lullaby effect that contrasts with the grim realities of the story. Then again, there is something optimistic and almost spiritual in the lyrics and music as Larsen encourages us to just let go. The addition of a brass section adds to the mood of the song and gives the music a swooning quality. There is a folk quality to Larsen’s music and lyrics, but compared to his past work “Turn” marks a new sound.Â
In describing the inspiration behind the song, Larsen has this to say:
“A really close friend of mine was going through a pretty rough time in her life. ‘Turn’ kind of became my letter to her and my letter to myself and to all of humanity, my wish that we can all be free of the sorrow and pain that we hold on to. I tend to overthink and overcomplicate my writing process. I remember looking at my guitar that morning and saying to myself ‘write a simple song’ because maybe letting go of all that stuff is actually a lot simpler than we make it out to be.”
WATCH:
Turn is out November 27. For more info check out benlarsenmusic.com.
