Ben Sollee - Learning To Bend

Ben Sollee
Learning to Bend

***1/2

Listening to Ben Sollee’s rather lovely debut in the middle of an election campaign is a somewhat bizarre experience. First released in the US in 2008 B.O. (Before Obama), Learning to Bend overflows with deeply felt left-leaning political sentiment generated in the lead up to Bush the II’s ousting from the White House. Not that this dates Sollee’s songwriting in the least; a song like the opener ‘A Few Honest Words’ channels public disgust at political duplicity in a sentiment that’s timeless: “I don’t need no handshake or a firm look in the eye / don’t tell me what you think I oughta hear”.

Sollee is undoubtedly a committed activist – if it wasn’t clear from his own lyrics, which occasionally veer on the side of the overly direct, his decision to cover Sam Cooke’s sixties classic (and Mr O’s spiritual theme song) ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ confirms it. But the real attractions to be found here are musical; Learning to Bend is, aside from anything else, an invigorating cross-pollination of bluegrass and soul.

Sollee wields his instrument of choice, the cello, with understated skill. His effortlessly articulated pizz provides the foundation for some great contributions from banjo-picking fellow travellers Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck (from Sollee’s other project The Sparrow Quartet), while he sings in a soulful lilt – think Eli “Paperboy” Reed meets Andrew Bird.

With Sollee’s subsequent LP Dear Companion (written with Daniel Martin Moore and produced by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James) already available, it’s a shame that this debut has taken so long to reach Australian ears.


First published in The Brag, Iss. 376, August 23rd 2010