[Exclusive Album Stream] Ben Sommers – Avocado Chip

30 September 2011, 10:00 | Written by Luke Morgan Britton

(Tracks)

In a musical climate where bands can see their first track drop on a Monday, release a mixtape on Wednesday and be just as quickly forgotten by Friday, it’s quite refreshing to encounter somebody like Ben Sommers. The London-based musician has spent the past couple of years, a time period that we’ll probably call ‘pre-dubstep’ and ‘post-chillwave, working painstakingly on his new project.

We are happy to bring to you an exclusive album stream of the musician’s new album Avocado Chip, available to listen below.

Ben Sommers – Avocado Chip by Two Tap Digital

But it doesn’t stop there. Avocado Chip as a product is a multi-media offering, coming with an accompanying storybook inspired by the song’s themes and lyrics – also available below.

Sommers said about the project:

I started writing Avocado Chip a couple of years ago. It’s now ready for release and I’m pretty excited about you hearing it. I’ve been asked a lot what this project is. Is it an album? Well, yes. But it’s more than that. I wanted to do something more than just an album.
Avocado Chip will be the first of a series of audio releases from this project. But then there’s the story: Inspired partly by George Orwell’s 1984 and the apparent realisation of that book that we see more and more of in our every day lives, my story explores themes of a conspiratorial nature, a sometimes bleak and sombre affair. I also want to use this project as a platform for visual output such as video/animation and photography. This not only helped me bring the characters from the story to life but it also let me explore other ways to express some of the songs

You know what, it wouldn’t surprise me if Sommers has gone to theatre school. The narrative reads like a storyboard for the stage version of ‘V For Vendetta’!

Bizarro, eccentric, electronically-tinged Bowie-isms may not be your kind of thing but you can’t fault the bloke for wanting to provide something different into the blog mix.

Avocado Chip is released next Monday 3 October on 360 Degree Music.