The gentrification of a tourist peninsula as the theme of an album? Under the pseudonym The Golden Dregs, Benjamin Woods proves to us that all subjects can be sung: it is enough to do it with conviction and seriousness… and to possess an immense talent as a songwriter and musician-director. Just that. Without a doubt, these qualities are very present in Woods.
It is to the pandemic that we must say thank you for listening toOn Grace & Dignitya high-quality album from which emanate the poetic texts of a man wondering about the pernicious effects of mass tourism.
Woods, who was a bartender in a museum – making a living from his art? a utopia for many artists –, lost his job in 2020. Result: return to mum and dad in Cornwall, England, a popular summer peninsula, located in the North. From there, he looked at a changing community, eagerly awaiting and preparing for the return of travelers and tourists, ready to roll out the red carpet and (re)become a slave to their economic contribution.
Are we losing touch? / There’s a constant hum on sundown lake / And underneath an ogre sky / And what a difference a day makes / And what a day to be alive
Excerpt from the song Sundown Lake
In his warm, low voice – one thinks of Matt Berninger, the singer of The National, or even Leonard Cohen – Woods recounts the social excesses caused by the arrival in his region of tourists and seasonal boaters.
Nostalgic for a past where human relations were true, the author dips his pen in bitterness to tell us about the changes observed. His sad texts are dictated to warm, hushed music – which here again recalls the work of The National –, where the piano and trumpet notes heard come to light up at times a framework built mainly with guitar, bass and bass. many choirs.
An album to be taken seriously.
Alternative
On Grace & Dignity
The Golden Dregs
4AD