Into the unknown WKND SPIN: BEN OSBORN – “Letters from the Border” (A GTC PREMIERE)

Ben Osborn – “Letters from the Border” is available @ Bandcamp.

by Walter Price

In a beautifully ominous soundscape reminiscent of works from Andrea Schroeder or Leonard Cohen, award-winning artist, Ben Osborn’s new single “Letters from the Border” laments on the unknown. Steeped in the songwriter’s Jewish lineage, Osborn remembers, “My ancestors came from Europe to the US before WWII. My great-grandfather was sending letters back to his family in Europe, but he didn’t know that they had already been killed. So he never received a reply to those letters.”

“When the fire swept over this continent / a host of sparrows rose from the broken things”

And these lyrical sentiments, sadly, can easily be relatable in today’s increasingly uncertain and chaotic politized and social-media driven world. Osborn’s absorption of the recording studio’s atmosphere and location, on the German-Polish border, as well his work with migrant and refugee musicians, at Berlin’s Open Music Lab, have also added weight to this hauntingly poignant track and forthcoming album.

“Letters from the Border” is from the album of the same name, out 19 April 2019 via Nonostar Records. Take it for a spin and add it to your weekend playlist.

BEN OSBORN

facebook / nonostar records / twitter

article cover foto by Andrea Huyoff.

ALBUM CREDITS (pre.order)

Written and performed by Ben Osborn
Produced and mixed by Alex Stolze
Additional vocals by Bethany Roberts
Additional electronics by Michael Bleach
Harp on Chedvah by Rowan Coupland
Clarinet on My Sister the Swimmer by Rachel Margetts
Mastered by Andreas Lupo Lubich at Calyx, Berlin

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