Instrumentally smooth and lyrically absurd, Ben Varian’s newest album, SNIP, is the afterhours performance of a playful and bubbly lounge act who finds poetry within the mundanity of everyday objects, scenery, and situations. The LA-based experimental avant-pop artist Ben Varian is back with a brand new record that is another welcome addition to the project’s eccentric and whimsical discography.
The album begins by posing the question, is there really an ideal time and place to end a relationship? Why not via a phone call as you enjoy the natural beauty of a river? This funky number with an R&B refrain interspersed with dual vocals that paint a descriptive scene of heartbreak while observing birds bathe and strangers paddle by in kayaks. Electric drums, electric piano, and sultry sax solos juxtapose what feels like a less than groovy phone conversation.
The final sax solo is cut off just as the second track “Fizzy” begins. This ode to effervescence is soundtracked by rhythmic piano chords, psychedelic banjo line and vocals, flute, and a fantastic bassline that after a couple verses and a tension building string interlude bursts into a thematic chorus of harmonies and strings. The varied and eclectic mix of instrumentation also includes bassoon, trumpet, and some choice keyboard tones. There are a couple of purely instrumental tracks throughout the album like “Patient Noiseless Spider” and “Jet Blue Corporate Anthem” that highlight the colorful musical ensemble.
“Through Your Eyes” marks a fantastic compositional moment as a 1970s electric piano and time period-appropriate guitar riff intertwine with a brass section over a laundry list of 1970s memorabilia like a wooden jacuzzi, candy bar color scheme, and moccasin shoes. The album’s thesis might just be found with the astute line “The world is full of images that are useless / Like an all you can eat buffet when you’re toothless / And the endless parade is so cruel and ruthless”.
We then whisks us away to the dreamy, spacelike environment of “Cabbage”, whose vocoder vocals, skronky free jazz saxophones and swirling synthesizers have us floating until we land in “Laredo”. This is the most forlorn moment within the tracklist with its big minor piano chords and Springsteenian lyrics like “union card in your wallet” and “unsold tapes in your closet” that are combined with surrealist similes of life being a pot of water and pain a ravioli.
The two-song “Florida” suite humorously begins with a decrying of unnecessary commercial waste and industrialization talking about how an oak tree is replaced by a popular burrito chain and a sunglass kiosk where the burrito chain location used to be. It’s a meditation on the complicated relationship many feel with their hometown, a simultaneous affinity and embarrassment for a place where many of your foundational memories took place.
SNIP reaches the end of its runtime fuse with an upbeat pair of tunes with sunny instrumentation that act as a nice finish to the dadaist collection of cartoonish, yet introspective tunes. SNIP is available digitally and physically on CD and cassette from the Minnesota-based Bumpy Records.
Written by John Brouk
