It’s December, so we could all do with a little additional warmth in our lives. Bristolian Ben Auld is here, right on cue, with the lead single from his forthcoming debut album; and it is (we cannot stress this enough) absolutely gorgeous. If homespun indie folk sounds like the kind of thing you might be into, then have we got a song for you. Premiering this evening on Backseat Mafia is ‘D4A’, and you can listen to that below.
Of the song, Auld—a self-taught musician, engineer and producer—says that it’s ‘a folky jaunt.’ “It’s pretty jolly sounding which I think mostly comes from the high strung guitar and quick pace. The narrative is a classic tale of infatuation and I suppose this is just an earnest account of what that feels like, while trying to avoid being too cringey or uninspired. I guess that’s why I wanted it to sound quite merry. These sorts of feelings are intense and difficult to navigate in the moment but they’re kinda inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I also like people being able to imprint a broad range of feelings or experiences on the music and making something happy-sad-personal-ambiguous is a good way to achieve that. … I spent a fair bit of time figuring out arrangements for the vocal harmonies on other songs but this was the first time it felt like they came together naturally which was cool.”
The ‘other songs’ he mentions—nine of them in total—complete the aforementioned debut album, which is called Lemongrass. These include a finished version of ‘Jettison‘, released in demo form earlier this year. The full thing lands on Tuesday February 15th 2022 via Earth Libraries. Keep your eyes peeled for more from Auld in the new year.
