Ben Kweller

Here's the daily OM Music review of Ben Kweller and a link to his Myspace page with music.http://www.myspace.com/benkwellerJanuary 31, 2007Ben KwellerBen Kweller 2006Ben Kweller became interested in rock music before he entered kindergarten, thanks to his dad being friends with Bruce Springsteen's guitarist Nils Lofgren. Kweller was playing guitar and writing songs by the time he was eight and was a seasoned hand at bands and recording before he was out of high school. After recording an album with the group Radish he went solo; Ben Kweller is his third release on his own. While Kweller is an old pro, he's still a young man. His voice retains a charming boyish quality, and his lyric concerns are that of a young male in the first blooms of love. On Kweller he plays all the instruments and does all the voices, yet seems self-assured and nervous at the same time; there is a teenage aw-shucks sensibility at play over the tidy but brightly done guitar-piano-drums instrumentation. Kicking off with the we-gotta-get-out-of-this-place "Run," Kweller takes a midtempo approach to teen angst, love, and fantasy. The opening drop of pounding piano chords has that majestic Springsteen-mean streets quality, and when Kweller doubles up on the harmonies the song gains in its us-against-the-world posture. "Since 15 / I have ran / Everywhere / You can run / But together is much better / So let's run let's run let's run." With freedom resonating throughout "Run," what could be better than for Kweller to run than with "Wendy" by his side. The next track, "Nothing Happening," takes on that other teen curse: boredom. Slowed down, a simple bass note held in place over a descending piano figure, a slow-hand slide guitar keening at the top, Kweller bemoans the lack of life in his life. He knows he has to wait out the in-the-moment doldrums he has found, but even with his girl there life is still hard and confusing, sadness and hope uncomfortably combined.Kweller closes with the combative "This Is War." It seems pretty natural that somewhere in the maturation process a young guy goes from the us-against-them stage to you-against-me; love becomes more personal, intimate, and embattled. "This Is War" is the hardest-rocking song on Ben Kweller, all spit and fury as it opens with the siren sound of a harmonic two-string guitar lead that evolves into chunky up-and-down chording that would make rock fathers Ray Davies or Pete Townshend proud. "I can't be your friend / Cuz I gotta knock you out / So I can win," Kweller declares. It may be bombastic and vain, but Kweller going all tough is pretty funny. It also opens the door to where Kweller may go next, and he makes music interesting and tuneful enough for us to want to follow.