Claiming Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom as his youthful stomping grounds, musician August Benjamin first heard the sound of music wandering through life when he was just a kid, with his father playing guitar in a local band. He spent hours watching his father practice for shows, which led to his own love of music and a fascination with the ways in which it spoke so profoundly to so many different people. He’d always wrangled with lyrics and melody, writing drafts and documenting small parcels of sound when he could — even working a bit on unfinished songs by his father — but in 2023, he began to focus on a more structured writing regiment, developing what would become the foundation of his upcoming self-titled debut album.
One of the final pieces fell into place when a friend of his introduced him to Todd Adelman, the owner of The Woods Studio in Woodstock, NY. Bonding over their shared affections for classic rock and roll, they started work on establishing the framework of Benjamin’s debut. Recorded and produced by Adelman over a 3-day live session, the arrangements were conceived in-studio without any prior rehearsal. The album was born through a shared spontaneous creativity and is the result of the aspirations of two generations of musicians.
On his latest single, “Rose Marie”, Benjamin looks into the life of his grandmother, offering a glimpse of a woman with an immense influence over his own life and a pillar of support for his musical interests. You can hear the influence of artists like Jason Isbell and David Rawlings — and even Dire Straits in some of the rowdier guitar lines — but this sonic landscape is all his own, an intimate and rollicking look at familial histories and how they shape us in ways we won’t ever fully understand. The classic rock swagger and country twang merge to create something unique, a barnburner that aims for something deep and meaningful. You can practically see the song’s seams struggling to contain the life and undiluted kinetic energy that he conjures within its borders.
“‘Rose Marie’ is a song which dates to 2019, following the story of my paternal grandmother,” explains Benjamin. “She was a German-born Jew who fled the country once Hitler came to power. After more than a year hiding in Paris, she and her mother made it to the island of Mallorca where young Rose Marie converted to Catholicism. She later immigrated through Ellis Island when she was just 13, eventually raising seven children in the L.A. suburbs.“
Listen to “Rose Marie” below.
August Benjamin will be self-released on November 13. Follow him on Instagram and TikTok.
