Album Details

• Artist: Ben Cooley Hall
• Album: Owning Up To A Life
• Label: Caunounicus Records
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: hstisgod on 2009-07-16

I'm still a young fan to this retro Garage soft pop sound.  I've often had a difficult time discovering great voices that sing out of their range for the genre, or bad voices that sing that genre to squeeze in.  After several full listens to Ben Cooley Hall from Rhode Island, I'm still not sure. 

  Songs like "Dream Excerpt No. 2" have a fairly diverse mixing of genres, and his voice is tactfully distorted, echoed, or something to that regard.  The very next track, "Ginger Ale" has more of a country twang to it, and Hall's voice seems a bit more fitting. A couple of my favorites here are "Sunny Day" and "Lot More Coming".

  Again, I won't profess a large liking to this genre. With all beautiful tempo's and brass utilization aside, Cooley Hall's release Owning Up To A Life at this point leaves a bit of room for improvement.  Whether its more experimentation, or perhaps different vocal production.  Otherwise, a solid poppy effort.

User Reviews and Comments

on 2009-07-17 fortunecookie Said:

Ben Cooley Hall was recommended to me through this site, so I thought I'd give it a listen. Not impressed. It seems too unpolished -- in a bad way, not the minimalist, raw way I enjoy.
Not Rated