We heard Benin City the other day through a new song that isn’t yet released (but trust, it’s something to look out for), and it got us digging through the Benin City Soundcloud, where we found these other gems. While we wait for the new release, let’s get familiar. The London band’s debut album, Fires In The Park, comes June 24. The single, “Faithless,” gets released on June 3, but it should hit the Internet on Wednesday.
For now, download “My Love” here.
Named after a Nigerian state capital, Benin City is Theo Buckingham on drums, Tom Leaper on tenor sax, and Joshua Idehen on rhymes.
Joshua met Theo Buckingham at a squat party. They struck up a loud friendship and decided to make more organised noises together. They drafted in Tom to arrange their babble into music. Viola.
Benin City is a rainbow of multiple tempo changes and mood flips, idiosyncratic yet familiar in all its guises, fresh sounding yet original. Joshua Idehen cut his teeth in the London spoken word scene, and his narrative/lyrical chops are evident. Royal Academy of Music alumni Tom Leaper’s faceted horn/synth arrangement is reoccurring motif; catchy and multi faceted, revealing new aspects with repeated listens. Theo Buckingham, drummer and co composer, brings his drum n bass/dubstep producer experience to play, giving the album its vibrant, often marching and sometimes dark persona.
