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Press Release:
BEN WOODS DELIVERS NEW TRACK 'BODY RHYME' + VIDEO
+ Announces 8-date Aotearoa tour:
Friday 26th February - Oamaru - Grainstore Gallery
Saturday 27th February - Dunedin - Dog With Two Tails
Friday 5th March - Blenheim - The Plant
Saturday 6th March - Wellington - Newtown Sports Bar
Sunday 7th March - Wellington - Newtown Festival
Friday 12th March - Auckland - Whammy Bar
Saturday 13th March - Leigh - Leigh Sawmill
Friday 19th March - Lyttelton - Loons Club
Tickets onsale via undertheradar.co.nz
Expression becomes its most potent under floodlight. At least, it does in 'Body Rhyme', Ben Woods’ latest release since his debut album, PUT (2018).
On 'Body Rhyme', Woods moves into expansive territory, with bolshy, polished production. Tape recorders become melodic beat makers and are paired with stumbling pianos and guitars. 'Body Rhyme' is an up tempo, though simultaneously hushed, sparsely laid single. “Nothing could be wrong with that / showing both our eyes turn black” - Woods sings of liberation through exposing our true natures. 'Body Rhyme' inhabits the ebb and flow between vulnerability and self-protection, while Woods’ voice, bright and forefront, hits sinister and bold, with a new sense of grounding since we last heard it.
'Body Rhyme' comes as the first release from a series of sessions with Ben Edwards in Lyttelton. Edwards is known for his port-side recording shack The Sitting Room, which has been responsible for the debuts of beloved alt-folk/country alumni Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams, and Julia Jacklin. Its accompanying video, directed by Martin Sagadin, is built entirely from clips of Woods’ gyrating nude figure falling to darkness. Shot on black and white 16mm film, the video summons the vivid monochrome of German Expressionist film and Samuel Beckett’s absurdist theatre. Woods’ grotesque, fleshy display propels his latest leap toward a newfangled brand of poignancy.
Woods has remained consistently performing and producing work since his debut in 2018. If not circuiting New Zealand with his group, touring or performing at festivals, he could be found composing soundtracks for film. The release of his ruminative long player PUT saw him performing alongside Steve Gunn, No Age, Tiny Ruins, and touring with Aldous Harding.
Through lockdown, Woods turned his energy outwards as he managed an online streaming festival—Better Living, Everyone. The festival boasted 30+ artists including Lawrence Arabia, Marlon Williams, Emily Edrosa, and Delaney Davidson, and attained more than 15,000 viewers.
'Body Rhyme 'comes as the first release in a new chapter for Woods’ music. His days are monastic, spent at home or around the bend at Edwards’ studio fervently working towards his new album. “There’s much less approximation involved in the work we’ve done, because it’s so localised” he states. “We’ve had the time to give all these ideas their own space. So, it’s more of an exercise of checking in with the songs, retuning the knobs and dials, and seeing how they breathe in new environments. I want the recordings to exist as a world in themselves, so they’ve got to be treated as living”.
