‘I can’t have fun listening to one of my own tracks unless I had fun making it’
Bensley! The name from nowhere. Was he someone utterly brand new to D&B? Or a veteran with identity erased and reborn, Men In Black style? Either way, his opening salvo ‘Fandango”s a short, sharp shock of pure oxygen, popping up in sets left right and centre, with the Next Generation album now looming up fast behind it: varied in style, strong and sounding massively distinctive… who else would describe a certain sound treatment as ‘white-noise-dragonfly-wing-esque’? Not many.
Hi Bensley how are you? Pleased to ‘meet’ you as it were.
Great, thanks! I’m happy to “be here”!
The album sounds great and you must be happy that ‘Fandango”s in many people’s sets… how’s ‘Fandango’ gone down, from your perspective?
The response to ‘Fandango’ was definitely stronger than I anticipated! I haven’t really developed a sense for what determines a track’s club compatibility, nor did I write it with that in mind. My stuff is relatively light for RAM, so the way that Fandango would be received as my first release concerned me. I was surprised by the track’s presence in sets and the overwhelmingly positive response!
Let’s get straight to the title track… ‘Next Generation’: what inspired this fab tune?
This track came together when I was just starting to settle into my own style. Leading up to that point, I had been experimenting with sample manipulation and sort of funnelled a whole lot of that in this track.
I had also been trying to create lifelike sounds in synthesizers, which resulted in the white-noise-dragonfly-wing-esque effect at the drops.
The recording of the kids in the playground was a finishing touch to construct a deeper atmosphere, and that was what inspired the title ‘Next Generation’.
The kids, you know, because they’re the Next Genera… nevermind, whatever.
To Next Generation itself: when did you start on the album, as it were? When did you reach the point when you felt that it had an identity of its own?
When RAM got in touch regarding my demo, I only had a handful of amateur tracks to draw from. So when they asked me to send them more music, I had to start pumping out tunes to keep their attention.
That was the biggest motivational boost I’ve ever had.
The plan for the first release was an EP, and once I’d sent in over a dozen tracks, an album seemed to make the most sense. We had all decided that my music stands up best in EP/LP format, so it became a matter of fine-tuning and the release took shape.
And in a nutshell, what would the ‘Bensley’ vibe be, what is it that’s unique? I feel like the album is a very fresh ride, with tracks like ‘Wildfire’ being typical.
I think the vibe is driven predominantly by strong melodies and soundscapes, without neglecting the factors that make a track work in a live setting.
It’s a tough balance to achieve, and I’m still working on it, but I feel like most artists will pick one side or the other and specialize in that.
Also, I can’t have fun listening to one of my own tracks unless I had fun making it. While the tunes are simple on a conceptual level, they can be complex in their production. I want people to discover new layers in my music with each listen, and that’s a big part of what drives my sound.
So back to the album… ‘Nocturne’. I feel like this one will destroy, live.
I’d just made this eerie synth patch that resembled a music box, which can really set a range of moods depending on the notes it’s playing. So I wanted to make a melody that felt like a semi-creepy lullaby, and follow it up with an unexpectedly weighty drop.
Despite the original idea behind it, it ended up becoming one of the more energetic tracks on the album!
Can you take us through ‘Cold Storage’? Love this.
‘Cold Storage’ was the first tune that I completed by pulling together two different projects. It came about when I was first experimenting with the idea of making the second half completely different from the first, and I had this unused project with a half-time beat and acoustic guitar.
It ended up being a great fit when I worked it in with the existing theme. I also thought it was a solid tune to wrap up the release with, so I finished it with cinematic strings and a long, drawn out end note.
What was the thinking behind the sleeve design? I feel it’s similar to what was said before: words like ‘fresh’, ‘movement’… it’s those attributes.
The artwork is a mixed-media piece by my friend – and hairdresser – Umberto Ricchetti. We’d discussed the prospect of collaborating on this, but he showed me this piece he’d been working on, and it really stood out to me.
So he didn’t make it specifically for the album, but we thought it was a perfect fit, and he was happy to let me use it. I figured if I was going to make a first impression as someone with a fresh take on the genre, the artwork would have to help set it apart from other releases.
What’s next, you out playing live? What sort of tunes will you draw live?
For now, I’m going to use the summer to work on my craft and worry about the shows afterwards. In my sets, I try to shift back and forth between high and low energy tracks. Most of my own music is pretty laid back, so I save that for the “down” sections.
I mean, I’ve only played in front of people once since releasing ‘Fandango’, but you can probably hear what I’m talking about in my Mistajam mix.
What other producers in general do you dig? Old and new…
In terms of D&B influences, I’ve been primarily focused on RAM and Hospital guys like Wilkinson, Camo & Krooked, Etherwood, Calyx & Teebee, Metrik… you get the picture.
However, my sound has been shaped largely from forward-thinking producers outside the genre, like ZES, KOAN Sound, Phaeleh, Flume, Shelter, ZHU, Haywyre, and most recently Mura Masa.
Any shouts?
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