Bristol’s very own tender-hearted confidant Benjamin Spike Saunders is fraught with vulnerability, with eyes open wider than on a chilly November morning when the sun catches you unawares.
So it’s strangely wonderful to hear such honest fragility nuzzled within the warm, gurgling synthesis of ‘Delicate’ ~ his new single released today through Leisure Records.
Like a slow, chemical shot of nurtured empathy, Saunders’ incapacitated croon is unmoving as he moves from sympathetic companion to having the lens turn on himself ~ almost seamlessly now made to feel tenuous and dispensable. The stark emotion is jarring against the clarity evoked by warbling strings and pitch-screeching melody. As everything turns full circle melodically, Saunders is rendered incomplete, the cycle of life passing by once more, the inability to press pause more and more unsettling with each spin.
Benjamin had this to say about the ‘Delicate’: “So, I was on FaceTime to my Dad showing him the most beautiful chords I had ever fumbled together in a tuning that featured 3 strings tuned to the same note. Dad asked “Are you going to make it into a song?” and I replied “Probably not, I don’t want to ruin them with my nasal whining” ….Eight reverse backing vocals, one brief toilet visit and an awful keyboard later ‘Delicate’ was hatched between my clammy legs.”
Benjamin Spike Saunders will release ‘Tonsil Wife’, his debut EP, through Leisure Records on 18th October.
Watch the video for ‘Delicate’ below.
Feature Image by Sam Lojek & video for ‘Delicate’ by Marie Dutton.