Benefits at Rough Trade East
After releasing my favourite album of 2023, the visceral Nails. My big question was how would Benefits follow it? Nails was a child of the lockdowns, full of post-Brexit anger, and waves upon waves of noise and feedback. Repeating the formula probably would not work. They seemed determined not to add in guitars. So which direction would they go? The last track on Nails, the excellent ‘Council Rust’ gave us an indication of the direction they would take. Add texture.
The critical success of the first album seems to have given them the time to develop the second album and explore different sounds. The first album also brought many famous admires, including Pete Doherty, who features on one of the tracks. I think the realisation that they cannot keep changing drummers, has forced them to strip back their sound even further to just Robbie and Kingsley. Instead of adding guitars, Robbie has taken the bold step of adding layers of violin feedback to some of the songs and to add layers of synth textures. I think the rotation of drummers may have helped them too. Each drummer brought different styles of drumming to their songs. Each drummer brought their own personality to the music. I felt the excellent Kat Myers especially, added an element of dance to some of their tracks and I wonder if these drummers have influenced Robbie and Kingsley when they wrote this album, encouraging them add more dancy drum patterns to many of the songs.
Billed by some, as Benefits dance album. I was unsure it would be my thing. While I am more open to dance music than I used to be. I was worried they had written an album that I would not go back to. Despite some of the early reviews suggesting this was a more dance-orientated album, ‘Constant Noise’ is not that. There are elements of ambiance, trance and dance. There are also some tracks that repeat their shock noise too. The surprise for me is that the album at times delicate and beautiful. It is full of shifting textures that site behind and compliment Kingsley’s poetry. Some of the pieces I have touches of post-classical. Imagine Phillip Glass wrote a Koyaanisqatsi-like piece about war from the perspective of a post-Brexit Teesside estate, that’s ‘Missiles’. ‘Everything is Going To Be Alright’ is a laid-back ‘New York Counterpoints being hummed by a slightly drunk contemplative Teessider’. This isn’t the album I expected. In fact on first list, I was blown aware by it. It is a strong contender for my album of the year. After my first listen, I was so impressed, I bought a second ticket for the album release show at Resident Records in Brighton.
Tonight, was the album release show at Rough Trade, ‘down in that London’. Kingsley and Robbie , sans drummer and Robbie’s brother, now a two piece, brought with them, Shakk, the Teesside rapper featured on ‘Divide’, who added a new dimension to their sound. The textures of the album worked beautifully live. Driving beats, shock noise, then textures. The shift between light and shade, works. While the album isn’t as visceral as Nails, the politics is still there. While Nails was the teacher shouting at you. This new set of songs, is the contemplative moment when you are standing on the naughty step, thinking about what you did wrong. Sometimes you have to stop shouting, to make people listen. I know from experience, the constant noise of the first album often alienated Benefits from unsuspecting audiences at festivals. I hope adding these news textures into the live set will bring in new audiences.
God knows what they will do for their third album. Maybe it will be a country album? I hate country music. Knowing them, this is exactly what they will do.
