Ben Auld — Lemongrass
Americana Highways presents this premiere of Ben Auld’s album Lemongrass, due to be available on February 18. Lemongrass was produced, engineered and mixed by Ben Auld, mastered by Carl Saff with artwork by Darryl Norsen.
All instruments and vocals on the album were played and sung by Ben Auld, with saxophone by Nicholas Dover. Auld alternately takes a low-toned, indie 90’s rock bounce as his musical form of expression, with a Beatles-esque approach to harmonies and some of the songs’ arrangements. The resulting amalgamation is both groovy and soothing at once. Note this catchy quality especially in “Sycamore Way,” and “Lemongrass,” the title track.
I didn’t set out with a specific concept or a theme, other than trying to make something that felt classic and didn’t try to sound popular or current for the sake of it. A lot of the writing is about figuring things out, with friendships, relationships, myself. The stories are composites of real experiences and fictional ones, but the sentiment is always true.
It’s partly this want I’ve always had to create something, be it a book, film, or music. I think music was the one aspect I felt most confident in tackling first and once I started it sort of became an obsession. The other side of it is all the music I’ve experienced in the last few years. Music that calmed my anxiety, or reminded me of people I cared about, or made me envious that I couldn’t make music like that.
[The takeaway will] be a bit different for everyone I suppose. It could just be something pleasant to put on in the background while they’re ironing or it could be this life-affirming experience and both are great. It’s cool when people appreciate little details or subtleties in the songs but it’s just as good when someone appreciates solely for it being catchy or memorable, there’s something quite pure about that. — Ben Auld