Debut From Acoustic Artist Ben Marwood
Following on from two self released EPs in 2004 and 2005, Ben Marwood releases his debut single 'Hold Your Breath'. Citing his influences on his (record) sleeve, Marwood is inspired by personal favourites of mine like Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith. Reading the list of influences left me with a fluttering of excitement, something which lead to some disappointment after listening to this single. It's a pleasant acoustic guitar track with lyrics about relationships at its core. It always seems insulting to describe music as nice, but that's exactly what this song is. Obviously it can be difficult or sometimes even unfair to judge an artist on one song, but that is all this CD offers, leaving me with little choice. Based on 'Hold Your Breath' alone I have to say that the inclusion of the list of influences does nothing bar setting Marwood up for a huge fall. There is none of the guitar majesty of Iron & Wine or the lyrical bite of Bright Eyes, and this lacks the pathos of Elliott Smith.
This song is better than much of the inane music insulting my ears with its existence, but startling it isn't. Perhaps if a new EP or album follows it will showcase more than is on offer here.