Griffin Benton – Biscuits and Jam
The vast majority of rock n’ roll is, of course, just naive escapism. The whole style of music was developed by people who realised they could make a living by writing songs about cars and girls.
There’s only a real minority of artists willing to explore more soulful or perhaps darker themes. And, sadly, most of them are either desperate to convince you that they’re some kind of guru or simply obsessed with their misery.
Griffin Benton’s music is a rare find. It touches upon the most frightening parts of human existence and does so from the artist’s own perspective. However, the journey Benton’s taking you on isn’t clearly mapped out, not even to himself.
“Biscuits and Jam” is an eccentric pop song, the kind that Tom Waits might write after an extended period of trying to live like the Beatniks. Benton writes about his own physical woes, and does so like a man who has been subjected to enough medicine to help him forget about them. It’s a strange and quite beautiful song.
Peppermint Moon – This Way Monsters Be
There’s as much of a difference between people who occasionally buy things from an antique shop and the people who make their life a long walk through an antique shop, as there is between a Rastafarian and a kid in Colorado who’s grown dreads.
Sure, there are plenty of reasons that can be envious of the way that our grandparents lived. Yeah, there are moments when you find yourself whispering: “Must’ve been a hell of a time!”
However, it’s also true that you can step back into it at any time that you like if you’ve got enough commitment, enough energy and the willingness to play your part the whole way through, as Colin Schlitt of Pappermint Moon does.
It’s not one style of pop music that Pappermint Moon is quoting on “This Way Monsters Be,” but rather music that existed before pop, and everything else that’s stood on the periphery of it. And while the singing and storytelling are emotional, the focus is on this world of heirlooms that Schlitt has created, the artist’s commitment with breathing life into the past.
