Blue vinyl version – There’s a soft sophistication to Dutch singer/songwriter Benny Sings’ music that evokes the sunny adult-contemporary pop of the ’70s and early ’80s. Young Hearts is certainly evocative of the breezy AM pop era, so much so that it’s easy to imagine yourself listening to the album while driving around in a convertible VW Bug.
DeMarco’s lo-fi and lax aesthetic is well represented here, as is Benny Sings’ throwback groove, which sounds like a cross between the Bee Gees and The Stylistics. For all the chillness between them, though, “Rolled Up” is full of heavy existential reflection: “Rolled up, tossed out/ Trying to understand why my life turned south/ Oh I’m holed up, locked out, shut in, held down,” the opening verse reads.
Benny Sings will release City Pop, his sixth album and first for Stones Throw. The album celebrates collaboration, with Mayer Hawthorne, Cornelius, Sukimaswitch (the Japanese Steely Dan), Mocky and Faberyayo among the featured artists.
Benny says: “I feel so grateful to have all these new and established talents on here that make Beat Tape II what it is. I got people who are not very well known for rapping to rap. Cola Boyy is a great singer, but his voice is perfect for rapping, so I was really excited to hear him do that.