Review Summary: A basic review for a basic album
Small-time folk rocker Ben Myers’s “Ninth” album (which is literally his ninth) lives up to the singer’s self-claimed style. There’s some folk melodies, and some rocker tracks, and some alt tracks. From the rather gripping opener “Send Me Away” to the well-done and very fitting closer “Complication”, the album dodges back and forth through different genres. The songs stand mainly on their own with their unique inspirations coming from wherever.
As one can imagine, there really isn’t much to be said about the originality. Myers’s voice is sexy and charming that resembles a Yorke/Foster manchild, which is definitely a plus. The lyrics are very fitting for the quasi-romantic style of modern folk. But on the whole the the instrumentals are rather uninspired; the same chords have been strummed elsewhere, the same rhythms have been jammed. There are a few exceptions, however, such as the bass driven, drum smashing beat-up “Outside”. And on the opening and closing the tracks, the instrumentals sway magnificently with voice.
All in all, cohesiveness doesn’t seem to have been a priority. Myers’s voice is perfect for pop or rock, but it grinds oddly against folk. The floating acoustic guitar lines work great for folk, but fall short of anything rock. On the other hand, the driving electric lines are great for rock, but don’t really work too well with folk. However, it does have a few strong moments. There’s just a wee bit of odd filler that needs to be worked on.
