On the Rise
Karl Benjamin

“I’m trying to get that shit in the Urban Dictionary,” laughs Karl Benjamin across a laptop screen. “If that ends up on Urban Dictionary, I can be happy. Get it in there, people will be saying it! ‘I’m dealing with my drist right now.’ It works!”

Standing for ‘deep rooted insecurities and shy tendencies’, Drist also the name of Benjamin’s debut EP, out this week. “I feel like it’s really current considering how everybody’s struggled with their own mental state this whole flipping experience and having to deal with their own thoughts on a much regular basis,” he sighs, shaking his head. “I’m looking forward to getting it out and seeing how people react to it.”

Drist was supposed to be released nearly a year ago, but like so many things in life, Benjamin’s plans were thwarted by The C word. “Everything just got cancelled, which is sad,” he says. “I’m fortunate. I’m trying to see the bright side that I get to grow my fanbase and get my name in people’s ears and take opportunities and just continue growing.”

The road to releasing his solo music has been a long one with a few unexpected turns. Growing up, Benjamin’s love of music was spurred on by his inspiring older sister who sang in the school gospel choir and in televised competitions. “I wanted to be part of the choir but I got turned down,” he laughs with resignation. “It was just fun to watch, I saw my sister having a good time and the arrangements that they were actually creating, it was beautiful.”

He eventually found his voice, winning a singing competition and opting to take a BTEC in music at sixth form. “Obviously I wasn’t very good at it, and my main proper use of the class was to sing everyone else’s tracks,” he laughs. “We had to recreate a song, and everyone just used me for the lead vocal because I’d won the year before’s singing competition so everyone was like, Karl can sing. I set myself up. I had to sing “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” ten times. I was really flattered that everyone wanted to use my voice, but Jesus.”

Alongside his music classes, Benjamin had a passion for graphics and photography, using the school facilities to further his own knowledge and learning. “After classes I was either in my graphics classroom working on my graphics work, or in my photography classroom just doing more photography work, or in my music BTEC classroom with my teacher. You’d never catch me leaving school on time,” he smiles.

He recorded a four track EP in the hours after school, further feeding his creative desires. Originally intending to apply to study photography at Falmouth, the process helped Benjamin change his mind, instead taking a course at BIMM in Brighton.

While he says he enjoyed the course, again his hunger for the extracurricular took over and he formed a band with several other local musicians and students. “We actually played literally every venue there was to play in Brighton and we even travelled here and there to different family festivals around the UK,” he smiles. Although not keen to dwell on the past, Benjamin does look back on the experience gratefully. “I don’t want anyone to think I’m ashamed of what was created, it’s just not where I’m at now,” he explains.

It was whilst playing a festival set at Secret Garden Party that Benjamin’s career took its next turn when he was spotted by a modelling agent on the third day of the festival, when one is not traditionally looking their finest. “Literally, and that was when they approached!” He laughs. “I was just walking around absent minded because I was hungover and I was just like, are you sure? I was wearing this tye-dye t-shirt, football shorts and my legs were muddy as fuck, sunglasses that covered up my eyes, barely able to make eye contact, and I was just like, are you suuuure?”

They were sure, and so Benjamin was able to sustain his early music career after graduating. He stayed in Brighton and travelled to and from London for modelling jobs and writing sessions, but eventually it all became too much. “I was modelling, doing the band, I was juggling a fair amount of things,” he sighs. “It was difficult to organise with the band and organise with modelling and organise with the solo stuff. It was just a bit of a stress, so something had to go.”

As his time with the band fizzled out, he signed a deal with Atlantic for his solo material, stepping away from modelling and instead spending his energy developing as a songwriter. Over time he built relationships with key writers and producers. “I have my favourites,” he smiles. “But I’m always up for trying new things with new producers, especially now that I’m more comfortable just going into a random room with people and being like, let’s make music, I guess! It’s gotten easier.”

Releasing the fruits of his early labours this week, his debut EP Drist is an uplifting and indulgent journey of dynamically rich and inventive production and introspective yet self-aware lyricism, all pinned together by Benjamin’s flawlessly smooth delivery. Working with different producers across the EPs four tracks, the songs move from glistening soundscapes to driving RnB to slowed down stuttering dancehall beats. Recent single “Moon” is a flirtatious rip of slick and soulful alt-pop stretching Benjamin to a flattering falsetto, while first offering “Apricot Sky” is a strikingly confessional hit of instant and addictive harmony.

In conversation, Benjamin is incredibly charismatic and joyful, his visceral excitement transcending the wavy Zoom connection. After a year of holding back his music and unable to perform, the release of Drist marks a long awaited and emotional moment. “I’ve had energgggyyyy, I’ve been ready to go!” He screams with humour. “I just wanted to go, I’ve just been excited because I like performing and 2020 has burned me out of that rhythm of knowing how to perform. Now that I haven’t even gotten to practice that, it’s a weird one. But hopefully when it comes back around I can get into it properly.”

As the world slowly opens up and gigs return, we’ll all be dealing with our drist, but for Benjamin the word is also a symbol of promise and reward.