Karl Benjamin – Music

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Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

BRITISH SINGER KARL
BENJAMIN UNVEILS NEW SINGLE ‘FRIENDS’ 

+ ANNOUNCES DEBUT
EP ‘DRIST’

     Today, British
singer Karl Benjamin has unveiled his beautifully hard-hitting new single ‘Friends’
(stream here).
Produced by Courage (Joseph Carson) ‘Friends’ owns a rich, velvety vocal
that harks to soul roots but still feels uniquely modern and unfamiliar.
Following his brilliant debut, ‘Apricot Sky’, and his February
release, ’Moon’, ‘Friends’ continues to demonstrate how Karl’s
taste is eclectic, broad and ambitious.

Karl Benjamin

  “I wrote ‘Friends’
so I could talk about one of my biggest fears. Losing the people I treasure.
It’s a tribute to my late brother, Leon, and to making sure that I don’t take
the people I still have around me for granted. I can be a little antisocial
sometimes, so I feel like I might not appreciate their presence in my life
enough. I know I do, even though I don’t show it all the time. So I hope this
song lets my loved ones know, they are truly appreciated. I’m just a bit of an
introvert I guess”

     In addition to
releasing ‘Friends’, today Karl also announces his highly-anticipated
debut EP ‘DRIST.’ – an abbreviation for ‘Deep Rooted Insecurities and
Shy Tendencies’. Full of honest and raw ode’s, the project speaks on the
topics of love, loss and fear.

     “Being trapped in the house with my own
thoughts for so long has really shown me how much this word means to me.” Karl
states. “I’m an antisocial extrovert that’s had the time to analyze their
own DRIST, and in doing so, I’m slowly understanding myself & my cerebellum
more each day. I wrote this Ep with my DRIST in mind. I hope it reaches those
with similar thought patterns to mine.”

  It’s fair to say
Karl’s journey into music has been a while in the making. Even before he
started making his own, music was always a fixture in his life. “My sister was
the person that actually inspired me. She was doing her piano and I was doing
my football, which I was terrible at anyway.” But when he was young, his older
sister was always “belting Alicia Keys” and it encouraged him to give it a go
for himself. After gaining the confidence to explore his own voice, Karl
entered a singing competition and won. From there, he worked with one of his
teachers on a little four-track EP. When he relocated to Brighton for
university, things kicked up another notch, singing lead in a seven-piece band:
“it was like an alternative funk kind of R&B soul… thing!”

     Scouted by an agent
while at Secret Garden Party for a gig with the ensemble, Karl then began
modelling for the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Nicholas Daley, Converse and
more, alongside the band. Eventually moving back up to the capital for work,
things with the band slowed down but his own relationship with making music
remained intact and it’s in London he realized he wanted to pursue music
seriously.

     With support from
the likes of i-D, The Face, The Independent, Clash, Line of Best
Fit and more, the year ahead will see Karl Benjamin stand at the forefront
of Britain’s young and fiendishly talented singers. Stream/watch and enjoy his
captivating new single ‘Friends’ below.