Benjamin Verdoes: The One and The Other

Artist: Benjamin Verdoes
Album: The One & The Other
Label: Brick Lane Records
Release Date: September 18
Website: http://bricklanerecords.com/artists/benjamin-verdoes/

By: Brooke Adams
Music Reviewer

Benjamin Verdoes’ voice has an extremely unique quality that allows it to melt into the mix of instrumental, synth, and drum lines that he uses in his newest release The One & The Other. The album has a very similar vibe through all six songs, Verdoes never really breaking out from his central style. He does however manage to break them up using different background tempos that are primarily synth driven, For me, “Is This All That We Are” is the best representation of the album; this one song capturing his haunting tone, the clearly very deeply felt love he displays throughout the album, and all through well varied tempos.

While I wouldn’t describe Verdoes solely as an R&B singer, songs like “Beautiful Dying World” and “Above Ground” have a very R&B feel because of the tone of Verdoes’ vocals. He lives at the corner of synth and R&B.

Personally, I couldn’t get into Verdoes or this album. I think he has a really unique style and a tone that is instantly recognizable if you know him, but I don’t particularly “like” this album. It was too one note for me—I never felt as though it peaked; there was no obvious climax. I like each song individually, but listening to the album as a whole feels very repetitive. It may be that Verdoes found a sound that he really liked and he ran with it, but I think he ran a bit too far. It’s clean and concise, but it just doesn’t change enough, for me.

Verdoes has been very open about his chronic anxiety and recorded a song called “Unknown Fears,” which you can check out here: https://ww