Sightlines a six song EP from Steve Benjamins that really pushes the envelope with his creation of making music. This is Steve’s third EP and was released on May 15 2015. I really enjoyed listening to his creation and the way he put this together. I know that Steve plays almost all of the instruments on this EP’s recording, which as a somewhat musician myself, I really have a lot of respect for. I enjoyed the full sounds and the growth within the songs. I can see this record really taking flight and I really look forward to watching Mr. Steve Benjamins shine like the star I think he is.
The Sightlines EP starts with “Devotion,” a very powerful instrumental track that really takes me into a place I love being in…. The first place that my mind goes is standing on a beach watching the sun going down after an amazing day. I love how this sound just continues to build and the constant beats and harmony that the piano holds throughout this piece. The harmonic voices really carry and uplift this song. I think this is truly a very strong opening piece and after hearing this intro I want to hear more of these songs.
Stream and share the first single We Used to Live here:
https://soundcloud.com/stevebenjamins/we-used-to-live
“Exploding Boy”
This is a great track, a lot different from the first in many ways, but still carries the theme of the EP. This takes all the qualities of the first track and kicks it up with the percussion that follows along with the piano. This song really has some awesome poetic lyrics, I found myself hanging on every line. This is a full-beat fun song that gets my foot tapping and again, the first time I heard this song I pressed repeat… I wanted to hear it again.
“Later On”
I enjoyed this track, I think you have placed this perfectly on the EP, it’s short being only 1:24 long but it definitely is a piece that belongs where it is on the Sightlines EP. I want to use the term BIG SOUND and I love the chorus on this one, it has a beautiful sound and instrumentally this really works!
“Sightlines”
Ok where to start….. I love this song – it has everything it needs! I think if you take the last three songs and take all of the highlights from every song, put them together, you get this track. After listening to this song over and over, to me it just gets better. “Sightlines” is the song that I personally think really showcases his musical talents. Lyrically the steady tone is very impressive and I kept thinking of Jack Johnson when hearing these lyrics but with Steve’s voice. This song continues to build which I am a big fan of, I love the drum track I love the keys all-in-all this is a very powerful song that needs to be heard. Great work Steve.
“Steamroller”
Here is a track that really shows us your vocal talents, not that I didn’t pick up on this from the second song on this EP but…. With this track I was left thinking Steve can really sing and he does this as well as he plays his instruments. This song really tells me a story and truly shows us the feeling that you are trying to portray as you tell this story in song. Again I like to consider myself a drummer and I always listen for strong percussion lines, and this song has’em! I really enjoy the keys in this track; overall very fitting song for this album.
“We Used To Live”
And now we are on the last track of this EP. “We Used To Live”…. This song truly to me uses your voice as an instrument, I like the melody and to me the beat kind of disappears and not in a bad way. It’s there and it’s important but I am more concentrated on the vocals. I really enjoyed all of this material. I think the songs were placed perfectly. Sightlines is a really well-written put together EP and I really enjoy doing this review. This is my first publishing on SBS and having this opportunity and finding music this good on my first time out will be something I remember for a long time.
Thank you Steve!
Find out more at his official site at: http://www.stevebenjamins.com
Find out more on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevebenjaminsmusic
Ryan@SBS – http://sleepingbagstudios.ca/
