| Reviews | |
| love;defenestrated 'Dark modern folk sung with beguiling West Midlands inflections. A collection of folk melancholia haunted by the shadows of Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and The Smiths.' |
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| Joe Murphy, blang! | |
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“Flee is a soft and delicious slice of near nakedly drawn early Marr-esque musings, that in truth is quite perfect for these sultry days. Beyond that the only thing you need now is that you ought to investigate Ben Calvert further for yourself.” Losing Today
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“Bittersweet songs about lost love, love; defenestrated is a heart warmingly beautiful collection of songs. It’s like being told some bad news while the informer is smiling sweetly. It is hard not to fall in love with these songs.” |
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| antifolk.co.uk | |
| The Leafy Underground LP | |
| "There's something supernatural about Ben Calvert's voice when it's stripped bare, moving around the speakers as though the tape operator is running it through his fingers rather than round the capstan. It evokes a melancholy air and spooked atmosphere, but it's his heart that delivers. The Leafy Underground is mesmerising." | |
| Logo | |
| "Following
on from his EP of three years back, Birmingham singer-songwriter Calvert
recorded parts of his debut album at The Royal Academy of Music and a
small church in his native Moseley. That gives you a rough idea of where
he's coming from. A mix of solo numbers with just acoustic guitar, some
fleshed out with flute or piano and some featuring the band he recently
toured with, it's firmly in Nick Drake/Ben Watt/Syd Barrett leafy English
post folk territory. There are also hints of Pete Atkin, Nico, Robin Williamson,
Noel Harrison and early Roy Harper in there too.
Starlight sounds almost like a traditional troubadour number. It's dreamy, reflective, sadness veined romantic stuff, Calvert's finger-picking guitar trickling like raindrops after the storm. Images of autumn gardens, wooded lanes, and all things quintessentially old fashioned England tumble into the head as he sings of sitting watching ducks on Sunday morning. With just voice and piano accompaniment, the haunting Ides of March sounds what you might imagine English spirituals to sound like if such things existed. With big orchestration and a bigger budget Last Orders could easily translate into the sort of stadium sweller beloved of Coldplay. He's happier though to shoot for more modest targets. I'd say the new Tom McRae would be about right. |
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| Mike Davies, The Column/Brum Beat | |
| The State Of Travel EP | |
| "sweetly melancholic…luxurious tone" | |
| NME. | |
| "smoky, urbane, downbeat… all late night burger bars and broken hearts" | |
| Making Music | |
| "A very leafy englishness. A voice to look out for" | |
| Mike Davies, The Column/Brum Beat |