BEN WOODS - Put LP

Limited edition of 150 copies.

Highly recommended.

With the release of his debut album PUT, Ben Woods establishes himself as the poster boy of a new, more personal phase of the 'Antipodean Gothic': a term, penned by the writer Jasmine Gallagher, which describes the dark output spilling from outsider musicians in Christchurch in the mid-2010s.

To other New Zealanders, Christchurch seems to be a desolate, xenophobic, flat city, which in the wake of a series of natural disasters is being sparsely put back together by a bunch of brutal development moguls. It's also a city with a thriving indie rock scene, unspoiled by commercial interests and held together by bands all drawing from the same small pool of members and venues. Christchurch has a rare grit.

Ben paid for PUT by pulling pints in Lyttelton bars and through the short-term loan of his body for drug research trials. It is, in spite of its gothic upbringing, something of a pop record that has been boiled through indie rock influences. He has described the song-writing process for the album as 'spontaneous', and this mood can be felt throughout the record. The Tall Dwarfs-esque energy of LOZENGE is contrasted by the songs INDULGE and GOOD 2 BE SLEEPING, which feel more akin to late era Smog, Sparklehorse and other nineties slowcore greats. It was recorded at Dunedin’s Radio One with Steven John Marr (Kane Strang, Doprah), during a biting cold winter week in 2018.