Benjy Ferree

Leaving the Nest

(Domino)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Benjy Ferree’s beard is deceptive.  By the looks of him, he should be getting the call from Central Casting to play the part of a literate, prolific troubadour who essentially plays on his own but operates under a band name or pseudonym (Iron & Wine, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy).  On the other hand, Leaving the Nest is out on Domino—about a year after it originally appeared on a local DC indie as an EP—so, on paper, he’s also expected to make the hipsters dance (a la new labelmates Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys).  Even Ferree seems a little confused by his new standing; he recently declared his aversion for granting interviews…in an interview in the Washington Post. 

He’s equally hard to pin down on disc, sprinkling reference points from Paul McCartney and Jeff Buckley to Jack White and Of Montreal.  It’s a playful introduction to the musical world at large, with the obvious corresponding caveat being that Ferree doesn’t find his own signature in the disc’s 45-minute span.  But that’s more of a worry for the follow-up album, and does nothing to deplete the pleasure of the rollicking “Hollywood Sign,” with its barnstorming percussion and honky-tonk harmonica.

Perhaps the most impressive feat on Leaving the Nest is a successful Johnny Cash cover (“Little at a Time”).  Wisely, it isn’t an iconic song like “Walk the Line”—the butchery of which is currently featured in a prominent ad campaign for jeans—but regardless, Ferree is up to the challenge.  He keeps the mournful twang, but weds it to a multi-tracked vocal that is part Beatles and part lo-fi indie-rock.

Another highlight is the bouncy opener, “In the Countryside,” which occupies the masterfully eccentric pop space shared by the likes of Bolan and Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes.  Given the nature of these songs, the soulful, stripped-down “Private Honeymoon” enjoys maximum impact at the album’s midpoint.

Less successful is the more aggressive but rather rote “Dogkillers!”  It’s the one place where Ferree’s vocals sound affected.  Leaving the Nest also loses some momentum at the end, and has an especially clunky closer (“In the Woods”).  That’s possibly a symptom of cobbling together a full-length from what was originally an EP, but, taken as a whole, Leaving the Nest still sets the stage for a career well worth watching.