Songs in the Key of Animals

Description

North Carolinas Benji Hughes fronted a rock band in the nineties. Hes written commercial jingle. Hes made music for film and television (Walk Hard, Eastbound & Down). He released 2008s A Love Extreme, his excellent double-LP debut record. But these ventures arent different hats Hughes wears. Theyre not different paths traveled. This is Hughes playing in different keys. Now, for his first full-length on Merge, Benji Hughes is playing Songs in the Key of Animals. Recorded over two years mostly at Frisbie studios in New York, the record is 41 minutes of pop-music exploration. The album has a summertime immediacy but an evergreen resonance (see Longshot). Its clever but too deep for punchlines (check the excellent back and forth of Picnic). It is sincere (Girls Love Shoes) yet heartbreaking (Song for Nancy). Its eccentric but never forced in its strangeness. Its the kind of record that reminds us music can be fun without being empty. Its an album full of peacocks and sharks and zebras and tigers, but ultimately, its about us. People are animals, Hughes says, even if some people dont want to admit it. Songs in the Key of Animals taps into something beyond just intellect or trend or taste. Its all about the feel, the connection between the player, the music, and the listener.