Ben Salter at the Retreat

Went and saw Ben Salter at the Retreat last night. Amazeballs.

This guy can sing. And play. And move you to tears.

He’s just got that poet gentleman ruffian thing down pat. But he doesn’t try and force it down your throat.

His tunes are an interesting stylistic mix of trad Irish song, contemporary folk and melancholy heart-wrench. And they grip you from the moment he opens his mouth. Along with his layered effects and sophisticated guitar-playing, he presents a compelling solo act.

The effects were an interesting touch for someone of his genre mix – along with the loop pedal which he used to layer up swathes of random bird-like guitar tid-bits, he also employed a harmoniser pedal to create 3-part harmonies from his voice. And he used them to great effect, sometimes continuing the random guitar over an entire section of he song, switching the vocal harmoniser in and out to give emphasis to certain words, and building the sound to massive crescendos before allowing it drop back to just his voice.

All in all a stellar performance, as his album due out in a week and a half will attest – “The Stars My Destination”. You can check him out here.

A lot to be inspired by there. I hope you enjoyed reading about his performance as much as I did describing it to you!

Love Simon