Introducing Interview: Benjamin Yellowitz

Benjamin Yellowitz is a solo artist with a distinctive sound. Influenced by everything from dubstep to soulful R&B, and even a bit of metal, his career highlights so far have included supporting Norman Jay and Bonobo, and he’s played live on Craig Charles’ BBC 6Music show. His latest single, the dark and soulful ‘Ash Wednesday’, is out now and we were lucky enough to sit him down and ask him some questions about it all…

Your single ‘Ash Wednesday’ is quite dark and melodically off-kilter, a departure from the usual. Is this deliberate?

(laughs) That has got to be my favourite description of the song! Yeah, I was influenced by some really dark metal riffs at the time and wanted to incorporate that into my style of music! Me and my band often start our sound checks/rehearsals by playing the riff for a few minutes to lock in the strange timing, down to what feels like milliseconds to us!

What would you say you sound like?

A bluesy singer/songwriter who is drowning in a big melting pot of dark, RnB-alternative production… It’s taken a long time to come up with that one!

You’ve supported Bonobo before, how was that?

I ended up supporting some brilliant acts whilst drumming for jazz/soul singer Lizzy Parks. It was undeniably an enlightening experience – it was that night that I realised how good musicians could be and I decided to up my game a bit! Being overly self-critical, I will always fall so far short of my musical heroes in my mind. Having shared stages with some other amazing, well known acts now, such as Timothy Bloom, I am constantly asking myself “how have I managed this one?”

And are there any bands you’d still like to share a stage with?

I don’t think I could ever share a stage with most of my influences and not feel totally overwhelmed. It would probably be more of an enjoyable experience for me to watch them from the crowd and soak it up!

Do you write songs with meanings and stories in mind? If so, what are the general themes you’d say you often touch upon?

Always, they are mostly very personal to me or about the people around me. The songs tend to keep on developing over time as my attitude changes towards the subject. Some of the songs on my EP focus on childlike urges, and questions at what point do we grow up and learnt to control thoughts and even if we should at all? This is partly what ‘Ash Wednesday’ is about. As with most songwriters, it has taken me time to mature, and although I am still learning and developing, I also can say that I am comfortable enough to wait for the ideas to come to me. Last summer I banned myself from writing lyrics for a month to live a bit, without every experience producing a byproduct. By the end of the next month I had written 10 songs about things I never would have thought of, if I hadn’t taken a little time!

What are your plans after the single?

Me and my band are currently touring the UK, but there’s much more coming up: music videos, short films, Sofar Sounds, BBC Introducing and then an EP release and European tour in April – so excited for it all!

Where can we see you live next?

I play in Nottingham on 22nd March, Sofar Sounds Manchester on 23rd March, Bournemouth 27th March, European dates will be announced very soon!

 

‘Ash Wednesday’ is out now via BYz Records, available on iTunes. 

Mari Lane

Mari Lane

Editor, London. Likes: Kathleen Hanna, 6Music, live music in the sunshine. Dislikes: Sexism, pineapples, the misuse of apostrophes.