So a little humblebrag and self indulgence here. I hope you donāt mind.
Ben Chatwin is a friend of mine. Otherwise known as Talvihorros from his early years on the road doing gigs. Heās one of the most talented people Iāve ever had the pleasure to meet, and Iāve been super lucky enough to meet lots of very talented creative folk in my life.
Heās one of those folks that you wonāt know the name of but you will likely have heard his music. Advertisers flock to him, heās had his music advertising Sky, high profile parfumiers and fashion brands among other clients. He soundtracked much of This Is England and has subsequently worked with the same director again.
I genuinely think heās a bit of a genius.
Iāve known him for about 4 years now, we met as a result of me making a surprisingly popular post about my Bridges work(I donāt quite understand why but itās had multiple thousands of views). He and his partner moved to South Queensferry from London much like I moved to North Queensferry from Edinburgh back in the day.
Both of us under the Forth Rail Bridge, both of us reading Iain Banksā The Bridge. Both of us getting a weird creative feedback loop from reading about this crazy structure in a coma dream and seeing exactly why it inspired Banks to write the book.
Both of us inspired to create something because of that. And so he produced a fantastic piece of music (heās still working on it now I think), I made The Bridges.
Ever since we discovered each other, weāve been meeting for coffee and talking about our projects. And for the the last two years Iād say, Ben has been talking continuously about working on a project about the 50hz hum. It finally came out via Village Green Recordings a couple of weeks ago and I think heās excelled himself. Itās up there with Orbitalās The Box (extended) imo.
In fact the tracks Transistor and Transmission wouldnāt go amiss in Death Stranding imo. None of it would. Itās that ābeyond the end of everythingā feeling again. And right now, for me, that resonates hard. Iām not shamed to say that the bugger seems to be able to make my substantial arm hair stand on end every time I listen to it.
For me, itās one of those pieces that takes me by total surprise by how much it moves me. Iāve been quite shocked by how visceral my response is to it.
I actually channel Benās work when Iām working on my own projects as it sets me in the exact frame of mind to achieve the tonality Iām always looking for. Even if I didnāt know Ben, Iād have found his work somehow.
Iāve linked it below.
Heās very much ambient electronic, so avoid if thatās not your bag. His work very much flows as an album (so I recommend not putting it on shuffle) and itās pretty much right up my street. I reckon thereās a small cohort here whoāll love it as well. I also urge you, if you do listen to it, get your best set of headphones on. It really shines like that I find.
Oh. And if you do listen to it. The portrait in the background is of Benā¦ and itās by me \o/
My work is in fucking Spotify. š