Benny Boeldt, from Baltimore known as Adventure releases a new record under his new alter-ego scope on Carpark records.
8 of Cups veers from
wacky to beautiful to chaotic; using gorgeous melodies, hyperactive
noise, and off-the-wall samples. The title is a reference to the tarot
card, which Boeldt found to be an accurate representation of his life as
he made the album. The 8 of cups card embodies the start of a new
journey, a transition, growing apart, and accepting one’s faults to move
on.
The foundation of this strange, gorgeous, other-worldly record is made of VHS tapes. Boeldt began 8 of Cups
by culling through tapes of anime, horror, sci-fi, even instructional
videos, and collecting hundreds of samples; then arranging them on a
digital sampler. Songs like the stuttering “Have A Pizza” and “Valley
Amnesia,” with its lovely piano, got their start here. Boeldt began
composing via MIDI and altering the samples through various hardware
filters, effects, amps, and microphones in his Baltimore studio. With
Baltimore artist Sydney Spann’s (aka Sunatirene) contribution to “Phone
Call,” the process was almost like the lost-in-translation game of the
same name. Using a small part of Spann’s vocal take, Boeldt pitched each
sound into a new note, making her voice almost unrecognizable. For
Boeldt, the process of making 8 of Cups felt similar to drawing
or creating a collage. Working toward an amorphous image in his mind,
the result is something unexpected but welcome.
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