Ben Woods

Ben Woods is an artist based in Lyttelton, New Zealand. He performed as a member of antipodean indie outfits <a href="spotify:artist:131FjEOfQxI6vnnVMrcywm" data-name="Wurld Series">Wurld Series</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4ptQCy5dKNSFIsWSvk1fc4" data-name="Salad Boys">Salad Boys</a> until releasing his solo debut, <a href="spotify:album:1aJOPLDIV11wFai9B9Nbbu" data-name="Put">Put</a>, in 2019.

Put’s warbled and romantic songs, laced with shards of emotionally wrought noise fit perfectly the feeling of “embracing the pain of being human” as Gallagher put it. The tone is queasy, heart-sick, barely guitar like in its abstraction…

Woods, and the music he makes have been met with a level of local admiration not often mustered in New Zealand, playing shows alongside such diverse and celebrated acts as <a href="spotify:artist:12fRkVfO2fUsz1QHgDAG3g" data-name="Julia Jacklin">Julia Jacklin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h" data-name="No Age">No Age</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7uLXW75DlTRahz2WKJZGeO" data-name="Steve Gunn">Steve Gunn</a>, as well as joining fellow Lyttelton alumni, <a href="spotify:artist:3lmR0qMiGuoIF9UC54egcG" data-name="Aldous Harding">Aldous Harding</a> on an Aotearoa-long tour.

On Dispeller, due July 15th, Woods pushes the polarities further. With chopped and screwed vocal contributions from <a href="spotify:artist:56gZH5Dxzcb6JdinbHmm3p" data-name="Alastair Galbraith">Alastair Galbraith</a>, ‘Speaking Belt’ snaps and pulses with the sordid clatter of a lost Xpressway single. Charlotte Forrester from <a href="spotify:artist:58DUChzwD72FKOw6Bpjx1s" data-name="Womb">Womb</a> adds their diaphanous voice to ‘The Strip’ and ‘Punishing Type’. On fragile duet ‘Wearing Divine’, Lucy Hunter (<a href="spotify:artist:61kTWcvGWfUKYv1zZFAOSe" data-name="Opposite Sex">Opposite Sex</a>) threatens to steal the limelight, before a full hive of <a href="spotify:artist:5ENM4Vw9brkpcN51HtC8ga" data-name="Marlon Williams">Marlon Williams</a>’ honeyed vibrato comes spluttering out of what sounds like a rusted can.

While Woods experiments with the disparate and the disharmonious, it is the open heart which elevates his music. His voice holds the physical and spiritual middle; flirting with, but never succumbing to the splendour and turmoil which surround it.