In spite of her young age, Aucklander Bene, has already lined up the support of CRS Management (The Naked & Famous, Brooke Fraser), and alongside that some help to write songs and record with the tried-and-true might of Josh Fountain and Djeisan Suskov (both Leisure) at Golden Age studio. There are summer festival performances lined up and her second single, the poppy Soaked, featured on NZ On Air‘s NewTracks compilation in October. We asked Bene to tell us a little about herself.
This is my first musical foray.
It started in my last year of high school. I was in a position where there was quite a lot of pressure being put on everyone to have an idea of what they wanted to do with their lives and I kind’a thought I knew what I wanted to do, but at the same time had this feeling that if I didn’t pursue music I would end up regretting not giving it a solid crack in the long run. By this stage, I had been posting a few covers onto Soundcloud, including Crazy by Gnarls Barclay and an acoustic version of Ocean Drive by Duke Dumont. These covers had been received quite well by my peers, family and a couple of people in the music industry, which kind’a gave me hope that maybe music could be something that I should try to pursue.
I’ve always loved the idea of creative writing and have done it from a young age. (I’m a diary writer.) So when it came to actually being in the studio for the first time with Josh Fountain I had so many ideas that I wanted to turn into songs. I find that songwriting for me is a great emotional outlet and I often find it hard to vent to other people, so it allows me to confidently pour out my emotions into a space that I feel comfortable in. As far as my songwriting evolving, I think that the more time that I’ve spent actually writing songs and constantly listening and expanding my musical knowledge has really shaped my current style. Now more than ever I find the music and words seem to flow more easily.
It was a long process! It came down to a nickname that I re-spelt. (:
I love the funky bass!
Soaked is a very personal song. It’s about a specific time in my life where I felt very vulnerable. I found it hard to actually talk about it to anyone. It’s about that feeling of regret you have looking back on what you should have said but didn’t at a pivotal moment. This makes it stand out for me as I think a lot of people have been in this situation.
“You look at me like I hit you.”
I worked with Josh Fountain and Djeisan Suskov on Soaked. One weird li’l fact about the making-of process is that in the studio that we recorded in there was a light artwork on the wall with a picture of a brain on it, and that inspired the whole chorus! (:
Just a feeling of relating to a situation. I hope that people can kind’a feel like they aren’t the only ones going through this kind’a stink situation.
I mean, I just create work that I like. I guess there’s no way of really knowing whether or not people will like it until I’ve put it out. As long as I’m happy with it I could have all the haters in the world but still feel confident in having an honest and personal body of work. For now I’m just writing as much as I can and working with Josh and Djeisan.
Boys Cry is a song by Stupid Rich Kid (Harry Teardrop and Tom Verberne) that’s currently on repeat for me. Leisure’s new single Feeling Free is a bop, and Mild Orange’s Stranger is a song that needs to be heard by the WORLD!
@benemusicc on all platforms (:
Catcha on the flip side
