Bandaged

Ben Reed has worked with Frank Ocean, David Byrne, Sampha, and many others, but his own music is unpredictable, passionate, and tinged with melancholy. It has drawn comparisons to the so-called Canterbury sound of Progressive rock.

Bandaged is much more in the singer/songwriter vein than Ben’s previous releases, albeit tinged with an undeniable British proggy-ness. The richness of melody and harmonic vocabulary remains, with the influence of jazz still detectable, this time via more concise song forms. Past review comparisons to the Canterbury sound aren’t too far wide of the mark here, especially as Jimmy Hastings (Caravan, Hatfield and the North) is present on two of the songs.

Throughout the album, there is a detectable combination of sentimentality and melancholy combined with playfulness and a dark sense of humor, making Bandaged one of the most interesting and innovative new albums of its genre in 2023.