Award-winning Australian-born, LA-based singer/songwriter Ben Abraham has released his latest single “I Am Here”, along with news that the track made an impressive television debut on the latest season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy on ABC in the US.
The high-energy track is lifted off his upcoming new album Friendly Fire, out on 21st January on Atlantic Records.
Of the track, Ben shares: “I Am Here” is a celebration of being alive. Each verse charts the evolution of things we ask for from the day we are born to the day we die. It’s unique on the album in that it’s not dealing with personal experiences so much as it is a treatise on existence. One of the early songs written for the record, the bridge ‘let me be angry and wrong in my youth, let me find fire in searching for truth’ became a manifesto for the album.”
Upon announcing Friendly Fire earlier this month, Abraham also released the powerful track “Runaway” – listen here – which found the acclaimed artist delivering an intimately raw and personal narrative juxtaposed against a driving beat and glittering synths. The song arrived paired with a powerful one-take visual inspired by the film “Shame,” starring a young runner traversing through the dark, late-night streets of Los Angeles.
Tell us about Ben Abraham!
Hi that’s me!
What is the message behind your new music?
Ha. How long have you got? The new album definitely tells the story of the 8 years since my first album came out. I went through some pretty wild life changes including the end of a relationship and moving my life to America. Overall the album is about feeling caught between different worlds and trying to make peace with that space.
What are some sources of inspiration for your lyrics and storytelling?
I get inspiration from so many different places. The songs themselves are about things that happened in my life over that 8 year period but the lyrics have references to art, books, poetry, other people’s songs etc.
I try to keep as creatively curious as possible because I know how much that stuff can influence my work.
In my song ‘Requiem’ the pre-chorus says “so it went down like the poet described” which is a reference to an Australian poem by Les Murray called ‘An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow’. The poem tells the story of a man crying on a corner in downtown Sydney and crowds gathering in shock which felt relevant to the story of the song.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
Great question. I think I’m most inspired by artists who manage to stay unapologetically themselves. I think Janelle Monae and Donald Glover are incredible artists – fiercely independent and with a strong point of view across different forms of storytelling. And she’s not a musician but Michaela Coel is also super inspiring to me. People who can hold onto a singular voice these days are super inspiring.
What was the record or artist that changed your life?
Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love. It’s definitely been the biggest influence on my new album and for me is the perfect meeting point between art and commerce.
Reading interviews with Kate from the time she made the album it’s interesting to hear how she was dissatisfied with the audience reaction to her previous album and so for Hounds was interested in pursuing a ‘one for them, one for me’ approach; trying to make something that was both artistically fulfilling but also commercially accessible. I think it’s my favourite album ever made and it’s where I had the idea to split my album into two halves.
Tell us about ‘I Am Here’ and how it came about
I Am Here was inspired by a sermon I once heard my dad give where he talked about the way our prayers mature as we get older. The way that early in life we pray for our own desires and needs but eventually we seek more mature things like asking on behalf of others.
I took that inspiration when writing I Am Here and decided to structure the song in a similar way – trace the evolving things we want from the moment we are born (give me hands I can hold) to when we die (give me light to get home).
You seem to be fusing several musical genres. What inspires your sound?
Overall I’m interested in good songs so I think any genre conventions or genre blending that happens is in service of the songs.
I have pretty eclectic music taste – again I think because a good song doesn’t necessarily have a genre – and you can probably hear a lot of my musical influences throughout the album including Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead and Donny Hathaway.
For this album I really wanted to make the whole project with one producer so there was consistency, and I knew I wanted to take the classic approach of recording in a big studio. Live instrumentation and hi-fi engineering felt important to the sound of this project.
How would you want people to feel while listening to your music?
Overall I hope my music makes people feel inspired and moved in some way. That’s a pretty obvious and boring answer isn’t it? Maybe growing up in church has made me too earnest with my artistic intentions but I just know it means a lot when I get comments from people telling me how important one of my songs was for something they were going through etc.
That stuff does feel better than having a tastemaker tell you how cool you are. Of course I don’t exactly get told I’m cool by anyone so maybe if that ever happens I’ll change my mind haha.
Where are some things you really want to accomplish as an artist?
I’d love to have a big enough audience that I get to tour with a full band. That probably sounds like such a low bar but the truth is if I wanted to really execute the album I’ve made, I’d probably need about 10 people on stage so we’re talking rooms of at least 5000 people to justify it haha.
I’d also love to get to make music for other media and environments. Composing for a film or TV series would be rad. Working with an artist to have music in an art space like MoMa or The Tate would be incredible. I hope my career has real creative breadth to it beyond just making and releasing music
What inspires your style?
I can’t tell if this is a music question or if we’ve pivoted to talking about my wardrobe but I’m going to go with the latter haha.
I took a trip to Japan in 2018 that kind of blew my mind and changed my whole worldview about style and the way I dress.
I love the meeting point of comfort, construction and design you see in Japanese clothes.
Most of my wardrobe is now just items from various Japanese brands.
Was there ever a moment when you felt like giving up?
Every. Damn. Day. Lol.
Sometimes I despair that the music industry has changed so vastly and quickly that I no longer have a sustainable place in it.
But that’s usually when I’ve spent too much time scrolling on my phone.
I just remind myself that at the end of the day if people stopped listening to my music I’d ultimately still be sitting in my bedroom playing and writing songs so why worry?
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
The song you write tomorrow will probably be better than the one you’re writing today.
Where do you think the next game changer will be in the music industry and entertainment scene?
I don’t think we’ve seen anything major in the interactive performance space yet but I feel like it’s coming. Finding ways to digitally release music that involves audience participation – not just immersion – is going to be incredible.
The gamifying of music performance. I don’t even know what that entirely means but I’m ready for it.
