Benjamin Golby - I Was Sound

From the off, I Was Sound wants us to believe it is ‘nice’, with cartoons in the inlay, and a delightful ginger kitty face where the CD snuggles. Yet a comfortable listen it is not. Benjamin Golby’s folk sound is homemade, with Sufjan banjos, subtle strings, stretched synths and harmonica fleshing it out. The vocals, however, are wherein lies the rub. At times akin to an odd mockery of McCartney, Golby’s atonal style is hard to stomach. Treading the threshold between original and just grim, the brain is unsure whether to put it in the 'Conor Oberst' box, or the ‘oh dear, what is happening to my ears?’ box. Backing vocals on Passing Max improve things, and closing track Prevails works out as the most emotive, by this point the singing almost seeming to fit. Once the vocals stop inducing a gawp, the melodic juxtaposed with the interestingly obtuse almost seems to work.