Dreams don’t come true. You have to strive towards them with the energy of more than 2 Red Bulls and aspirations of an astronaut. Benjamin Corson has achieved this dream, in the form of a rock record that will stand the test of time. The album is called Mirage, and only the brave can see beyond it.
See for example, Cracking the Code. It is almost a 9 and a half minute epic, a face-melting, heart throbbing exciting jam by this artist and his band he calls his family now. Riddled with blues licks, drum fills and experimental bass pulls-this song is one for the permanent rafters. Is it prog? In parts. Is it psychedelic? Looking at the style of sound, more than you’d expect. A year and half of tireless work into this. The album that is. I would have believed it for the opening track itself.
In pursuit of a journey
So there’s a gem hidden somewhere in Fiverr called Tim Pitchford. If you have reached the second track of the album, that’s the sound reigning the vocals, like Caesar over Rome-with his empire till the horizon. It is unbiasedly the best entrance for vocals that have been rolled out this year. The blues style track is a little Alabama Shakes, Joe Bonamassa and other legends that have painted the world blue. Wild and Free is a powerful number demanding you to delve into the groove.
Dolion starts with some cool flange on the guitar, like ethereal pairing to enter a wormhole. The beat scarcely supports the beautiful guitar tone and fluidic tenacity of the strings. Each string sings to its potential, with Benjamin Corson guiding the melody like the Pied Piper, but to absolution. Gilmour style bends and licks grace this track, creating what will be my song to recede into serenity for several months to come. The vocals have their own fairy wings, taking another plane on this song.
Not the Neil Diamond version that kind of sounds wrong nowadays. You Are A Woman Now is a immersive narration into an experience untold. The synths carry the melodic part, till the vocals come in near the 2 minute mark. A rich experience with each instrument floating in like a layer. Almost an acapella defined movement in many ways, this song precedes the instrumental anarchy Benjamin sometimes releases on us. A beautiful number.
Creating expectations-through sound
MLKDBGCJ might be a typo. Does it matter after listening to the song? It’s a rock riff that I haven’t heard before, and some tasty licks peppered across the song like its glitter on a catwalk. The guitar tone has been curated to have just the right fuzz and crunch. Now that I hear MLKs speech entered in between, I’m figuring out what the song name might be. A great jam track to exploit your ears to.
Madseen might open like a familiar Floyd song, but it veers away eventually. The tone is perfect for the ambience, and the pickups on the guitar seem to control it like a thermostat. The slides and bends show a mastery on the guitar that comes with great experience, or an innate composer with profound phrasing ability. The ambience is dictated by barking, a music box, and like Alan’s Pyschedelic Breakfast, tells a tale that is intriguing. Definitely a prog-rock experience in many ways.
To end a dream
Slow blues to top off this dessert? Yes please. Mirage or the title track is the closing number. It starts with a slow blues with Tim Pitchford on vocals once again. Benjamin Corson curates the powerful number with his fingers on the fretboard. Now for the analogy of the waterfall. You’re in tepid waters and you move towards the ripples. The slow gush becomes quicker. Now you see the horizon, the level change.
That is what Mirage is like. Crescendos to a profusely entertaining guitar number that is one for the ages. Rush isolated themselves to create Hemispheres. Ben here was isolated not by choice, but by circumstance. He’s crafted his legacy and the first plaque has his debut album on it. Grammy’s mean nothing to me. An award of emotional distortion is given to this album. Remember this artist, for we know time will.
Listen to his album here:
https://benjamincorson.bandcamp.com/album/mirage-4
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Discovered via http://musosoup.com
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Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
