Ben Pantrey - Writings

Published online by TN2 11 November 2020. Tomorrows I is the first part of Tomorrows, a concept album by American band Son Lux. The band’s website pitches the project as one that explores “volatile principles: imbalance, disruption, collision, redefinition.” As this quote reveals, Son Lux’s music is not easy to describe in plain English. This description features the same register one might find in the brochure of a modern art exhibit. This attitude may stem from their founder Ryan Lott, who studied music at university and was privately tutored by a former student of Leonard Bernstein. For the most part, the album lives up to the high expectations these facts might raise. Son Lux makes use of a variety of forward-thinking studio effects, whether it be pitch shifting down the sound of violins to explore the rich textures present in their upper registers, or Lott himself singing in a higher key, and then transposing his voice down to shift the timbre of his voice in an unusual and intri...

Published in print by TN2 September 2020. Published online 26 October 2020. Over the Summer, I got around to doing something I’ve been putting off for years – producing electronic music. From the outside, this hobby can appear intimidatingly difficult, with its own jargon, software and online subcultures. Once I started digging into it, however, I was surprised to find there are a plethora of free, beginner-friendly resources available. The most difficult part was learning where to start. For help, I reached out to Irish electronic musician Herb Magee (AKA Arvo Party), for advice on getting into electronic music as a beginner. To produce electronic music, you need a Digital Audio Workstation (commonly referred to as a DAW). This software allows you to create, record and manipulate audio. There are many reputable free options, such as Garageband (which comes pre-installed on Macs), Reaper (recommended in a Q&A with Autechre) and Cakewalk. Arvo Party “started out with Logic and stil...

Published online by TN2 magazine 19 August 2020. Silverbacks are a five-piece Dublin-based band composed of brothers Daniel and Kilian O’Kelly (the principal songwriters), along with Peader Kearney, Emma Hanlon and Gary Wickham. Last month, the band released their first album, Fad. Angular and jagged guitar riffs bounce back and forth over the funny, offbeat lyrics of frontman Daniel O’Kelly. On several songs, bassist Emma Hanlon takes over the role of lead vocalist. Her melodic, clean singing contrasts the rest of the band’s punky yells to great effect on the choruses of songs such ‘Klub Silberrücken’ and ‘Muted Gold’. Producer Daniel Fox of Girl Band coaxes a variety of textures out of the band’s guitars, resulting in an album which is fresh, varied and a lot of fun. Through the socially distant medium of email, singer/songwriter and guitarist Kilian O’Kelly, alongside bassist and vocalist Emma Hanlon spoke, about their musical influences, their label Central Tones, and their aspira...

Soon after Smiley Smile (1967) was released, the principal songwriter of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, was admitted into psychiatric care. With his talent for composition, Wilson held almost sole responsibility for the Beach Boy’s success in the early ‘60s. In early 1965, Wilson withdrew from touring for reasons of mental health. As the band toured in Europe, their leader stayed home and experienced a creative breakthrough. His new songs achieved a new level of emotional expressiveness and musical complexity, while still retaining a pop sensibility. When the other members returned to the States and heard them, however, they weren’t optimistic about their commercial viability. Songs like “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” and “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on my Shoulder)”, with their melancholic lyrics and surreal melodies were a far cry from the surf-rock ditties that brought the band to fame. Unfortunately for Wilson, the pessimism of his bandmates was initially justified. Pet Sounds ...

Published online by Trinity Film Review 2 March 2020. Republished in print 3 July 2020. It’s been less than a year since Toni Morrison’s death at the age of 88: an event which resulted in an outpouring of public grief from her wide and diverse base of readers. It has brought her to the attention of people who had perhaps overlooked her novels before. The Pieces I Am is a documentary about Morrison, compiled from interviews with the author herself and several of her colleagues and contemporaries. These include Angela Davis, whom Morrison worked as an editor for, Morrison’s own editor Robert Gottlieb, Oprah Winfrey, and several others. The documentary premiered at Sundance in January 2019, several months before Morrison’s death, and does a good job at introducing her to its viewers. We start from Morrison describing her burgeoning love of language as a child, her writing method, the topics her early books covered, and the trajectory of her career. The documentary brings us up to the poi...

Published online by TN2 magazine 17 December 2019. It’s been five years since FKA twigs last released a full length album, the highly acclaimed LP1. This debut album had a fantastic sense of atmosphere, with a minimalist, glitchy electronic aesthetic that complemented twigs’ fragile vocal lines wonderfully. Twigs’ voice would break through muffled beats, intimate and tragic. The consistent sparseness of the sound gave it a haunting, lonely power. In this follow up record, although there is only one track featuring another artist, twigs feels a lot less lonely. You could see Magdalene as coming in the wake of those other heavily produced, highly collaborative and promoted albums like Tyler the Creator’s IGOR and Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next. Their similarities also lie in their personal context, with each album being in reaction to a breakup. “I never thought heartbreak could be so all-encompassing,” twigs said of the album, “but the process of making this album has allowed me for th...

Originally published in print by Scáthán magazine, 2017. Won 2nd prize in a writing competition held by the paper. Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath; maidin fhuar. Ar oscailt gach mí sa bhliain, gach lá sa tseachtain, gach uair sa lá. Ballaí bána. Táim i mo shuí i gcúinne ciúin, ag ithe sceallóga agus ag féachaint amach ar na daoine. Clanna ag argóint. Páistí ag caoineadh. Mic léinn ina gcodladh in aice leis na staighrí, ar nós corpán. An bhfuil gach duine anseo ag dul abhaile? Nó an bhfuil siad ag éalú on oileán seo? Cuirim síos an sceallóg atá i mo lámh agus seasaim suas. Cad fúmsa? Éalú? Mise? Na ballaí bána timpeall orm. Timpeall, timpeall, gan éalú, i gcónaí gan aon seans. Bás, bás sa talamh, bás sa spéir. Braitheann mo chosa lag agus suím síos arís. Cuirim mo lámh ar m’éadan. Táim ag cur allais. “An bhfuil tú críochnaithe?” Fear le tráidire lán de bhia. Bean in aice leis. “Tá brón orainn ach níl aon bhord eile saor… an bhfuil tú ag imeacht?” “Táim… táim…” a fhreagraím agus piocaim suas ...