PRESS
(selected)
“CICADA WAVES”
“Like Harold Budd getting lost in the Appalachians. There’s a moment towards the end where Seretan spontaneously duets with a nearby songbird and it’s one of the most magical things you’ll hear this (or any) year.”
“Chirping wildlife and a rushing stream become a monumental backdrop for Seretan’s wide-open, deeply reflective playing. It’s just marvelously beautiful…”
“Once again, Ben Seretan has crafted an enthralling record that delivered exactly what I needed, when I needed it. Cicada Waves combines sounds both natural and man-made into an improvisational, voiceless, pianistic venture offering an immediate tranquility that is difficult to do justice to in words.”
“In “Cicada Waves” c’è tutto il meaning dell’indennità. Molto più del suono del piano che non è suonato. Il rumore bianco delle ali e del vento, dell’acqua e dell’artificio, si mescolano in piccoli tasselli di composizione strumentale.”
“YOUTH PASTORAL”
“Powered by driving guitars and softened by droning winds and synths, the tender Youth Pastoral reckons with a question that requires no churchgoing history of your own to understand: how to find meaning amid a tumultuous life on earth.”
Pitchfork Review & 35 Best Rock Albums of 2020
“…an undeniably dynamic examination of how human beings seek meaning, whether in a higher power or in each other.”
Paste Best Songs of 2020 & Best Albums of 2020
“Healing is an arduous process that requires both time and patience and Youth Pastoral finds beauty in the journey towards self enlightenment.”
The Alternative - best of 2020 so far
“Spectacularly talented, multifaceted, and seemingly brimming with melodies and concepts, Youth Pastoral sees Ben Seretan as one of us – struggling, questioning, reflecting – and filtering it all through music that soars and inspires.”
Popmatters Interview/Profile & Review
“…it's clearly a very special album.”
BrooklynVegan Album Announce & Video Premiere
“For Seretan’s latest record, Youth Pastoral, “zero[s] in on the significant overlap between breakup songs and lost god songs,” exploring how small moments of individual loss speak to a wider, existential longing, and how dealing with the first might inform our attempts to assuage the second. Be it personal or spiritual, relationships require a form of belief—belief in the possibility of love, and in the small day-to-day facts that prop this up—and finding private truths in which to believe, really believe, is surely the way out of the dark.”
“MY LIFE’S WORK”
Profiled by Sammy Maine in Issue 3 of Gold Flake Paint
My Life’s Work installed at Basilica’s 24-Hour Drone
"BOWL OF PLUMS"
"His latest album, Bowl of Plums, alternates from twangy ("Thommy") to explosive ("My Lucky Stars, Part 2") to hymn-like ("I Like Your Size") with ease. Seretan likens the record to "a still life with dried flowers." The arpeggios and song structures are intricate, but the emotional heft is not."
Newsweek's "12 June Albums We Can't Wait to Listen to"
"Mostly I want Ben Seretan to be my best friend. The video for 'Cottonwood Tree' doesn't give a fuck."
Tiny Mix Tapes Premiere of "Cottonwood Tree" Video
"Always stoked for new work from Ben."
YVYNYL Premiere of "You Took My Blues Away"
"“You Took My Blues Away” with every bent note is reaching up towards the sky to find a solution before it all falls into a night of running and searching for the meaning in all that silence,–we’re just there for the ride.”
Elevtr Trax interview + track feature
"One of the first things I noticed upon listening to the flowery music of Ben Seretan: how transformative his lyrics are. Ben is gifted with that rare talent that only a handful of artists possess; he is able to write delicate, psychedelic words that transform you from whatever place you are currently in, to a space of sunshine, wildflowers, and sweet tea. His music is timeless."
"Ben Seretan is able to spread happiness in immeasurable ways, and this time shows you that happiness can also be found in a fruit jar. Take a bite of this record, it's yummy." (translated)
"Seretan’s music is all about making the most of life, grasping the good and shedding the bad to allow your time to be as light and bright as possible."
"BEN SERETAN" (the album)
"Rock is not dead. About two weeks ago I received, in the good old fashion physical mail, a beautiful copy of a beautiful record by a beautiful man."
"Let’s just say, it all sounds beautiful and widescreen, and way different than anything I’ve heard today."
Indie for Bunnies Review (in Italian) + Interview
"Sometimes, there are artists that come and go, and sometimes there are ones that really blow you away, reminding you why you listen in the first place. Ben Seretan is, without a doubt, in the latter camp. The artistry on here is brilliant, and Seretan’s guitar chops are incredible. The guitar lines flow almost effortlessly, ebbing and flowing, coming and going."
"The fact is that the music of Ben Seretan seems to arise without a trace and without limits. Breathes an extended light, and you will find yourself in, no direction but not lost, you let yourself lull, fit the pulse of your heart to its modulations." (translated)
"No record in the songwriter’s elegantly powerful streak hits as hard as the monumental achievement that this review aims to bring into sharp focus: Ben Seretan."
"Here we get the first real glimpse at the truth at the heart of the record, a naked sincerity which forgoes being hip or clever or cool in an attempt to communicate openly and truthfully and connect with the listener."
Wake the Deaf (now known as Various Small Flames)
"Seretan’s album, with a bed of guitars and Seretan’s raw vocals comforting in the same kind of way a crying person comforts another crying person."
VARIOUS
"Mm – Ben Seretan is stark in lyric, sincere in voice, practically visual, and brilliantly ready at the pick-and-strum."
“Letter to YVNYL” about “In Two”
SELECT RADIO APPEARANCES
"Playing Hooky" set on Clocktower
Radio Citta del Capo (in Italian)
Break Thru Radio - Discovery Corner
Performing all 90+ minutes of "Three Sisters Music" on WFMU
Caroline Lewis Radio Doc on the Sunrise Series
The First ever Ben Seretan Group show live on WFMU
PULL QUOTES
"...carrying on the raga-style guitar work of an American mystic. A meditation of the highest order."
YVYNYL
"The man in the picture is called Ben Seretan, he’s a Californian singer and guitarist based in NY, and he’s *good*."
Rumore Magazine Album of the Month (translation)
“He basically just seems like a straightforward, energetic, unbounded hard worker on beautiful projects.”
Bedford and Bowery
"He easily comes across as an adept axe-handler, incorporating equal portions of shred, drone, and weirdness into the mix, but it’s his ability to drizzle in elusive pop elements and hook-laden sections that keeps me coming back for more."
The Key
"Ben Seretan is an extremely nice goofball who plays droney guitar and sings"
Nailgun Media
"Originals 'Pretty One' and 'My One True Love' are highlights, tempering Seretan's cavernous whine between swelling arpeggios and virtuosic finger-picking."
Popmatters
"Seretan tends to write hypnotic drone-based compositions that deliberately hijack the listener’s space-time continuum…Seretan’s music develops on a geological timescale. Like continental drift, the evolution is too gradual to notice in the moment but, from afar, the implications are profound and irreversible. You may struggle and fail to make sense of what you hear, but you’ll probably stumble across a moment of zen in the process."
Ampeater Review - link died!
"The five tracks cascade through all the elements that have become singular and familiar about Ben’s music - tender firm guitar playing, fervent vocals, immersive drones, floating words - crystallizing into a wholly new world, a “new space”, you’ll want to spend some time navigating, then eventually rest inside."
Badlands PDX
"I realized he was one of the best guitarists (by best I mean most transcendent--most able to supersede the material of music and tap into some sort of usually intangible emotional stratosphere)"
ETC APPEARANCES AND ~ COOL LINKS ~
There are a LOT of videos on the Internet featuring recordings of mine from the Free Music Archive (a great organization). These are three of my favorites of the literally hundreds: