Amid the releases from more popular artists such as N.E.R.D, Alanis Morissette, Jakob Dylan, and Emmylou Harris this past Tuesday was a quiet release from an up-and-coming musician named Ben Sollee. I wasn't too sure I would enjoy this album considering the cello isn't an instrument widely used and I'm not familiar with it, but Ben completely won me over with his debut album Learning To Bend. His voice has a similar quality to Donavon Frankenreiter, Ben Harper, or Jack Johnson that I really like. Stand-out track for me was "It's Not Impossible". The song starts with a pleasant cello solo and then other instruments join in creating an uplifting sound. Despite the masculinity or machismo that's associated with men and how "boys don't cry," he says that it's not impossible, "it's just the hardest thing I've ever done". The album also features an adaptation of "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke in which he wrote updated and politically relevant verses and was covered on W♥M. Other tracks that piqued my interest were "How to See the Sun Rise," a soulful tune and "Bend" about "learning to bend" or being strong enough to bend or change when something abrupt happens. Learning To Bend is definitely on my list of best albums of 2008 so far and hopefully it'll be on yours also.
♥ "It's Not Impossible" / "How to See the Sun Rise" / "Bend" / "Prettiest Tree On the Mountain"
♥ "It's Not Impossible" / "How to See the Sun Rise" / "Bend" / "Prettiest Tree On the Mountain"
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