Benjamin Diamond
His voice has changed. Probably because his vocals have matured, which is quite natural. Anyway, they have become deeper, and more confident. Don¹t expect the same fever : Benjamin Diamond has dumped sticking to house beats. He seems now to be a pop-lover, with his pulse beating on the riffs of electric guitares. And surprisingly, it sounds much more like him.
Years have passed since the Stardust¹s hit ³Music Sounds Better With You². Once again, Benjamin Diamond has hit the road on his own, but this time, he hasn¹t gone off track. No more compromise, as it was the case with Strange Attitude, an album a bit dull and tawdry, created under the pressure of the french touch. His second solo album, (but first of heart), has been crafted in his personal studio, as well as within his label Diamondtraxx (Octet, HushPuppies, Dirty Diamonds, The Eternals). He has worked on it during two years, writing all the pieces, and handling the recording with the Pet Sounds sessions next to the console. Two years, the time to gather himself and his ideas, and the time to accept his desires and, with alot of discipline, his voice. ³Hearing my voice was hard ², he admits, ³as it would be for an actor who would have to face himself on the screen.²
And this effort on himself has been successful, satisfying his demands as well as his obsessions. The result really suits him perfectly, breaking his pinned image of ³house singer². So, when it came to naming his album, Benjamin Diamond didn¹t hesitate a second : it had to be Out Of Myself. Time is too precious now to indulge into any posing or falseness. Rather than hidind behind the clubbing culture, which he shares only by pure accident and then with the Diamondtraxx artists, he now exposes his fascination for fine orchestrations, rock hymnes with booming drums, and sentimental melodies. And fashion has nothing to do with it. We already knew how much he loves black music and Prince. But we had no clue that Benjamin also cherishes classical songwriters as Bob Dylan, Ray Davies of the Kinks, Arthur Lee of the group Love. Nor did we know that he adores Paul Weller, and highly values New Order.
All these influences burst out in this album, their flow mastered by a songwriter as sound as sober. The first step is sturdy and ironical, with ³Mr Fate². Everything softens in the next pieces, with ³Let¹s Get High² and ³Give Me The Grace², the pace then speeds up with quick and touching pop (³I Wish², ³These Emotions², ²No One Knows²) and hot rock (³There Is A Girl²). He has also composed a moving ballad ³She¹s Away². ³From the start, I¹m a singer and composer. So style is just a pretext to express emotions.² The songs of Out of Myself are not autobiographical, but are quite close to what he knows, telling stories about dying or blooming relationships, about casual moments of every-day-life which remain griven in each one of our memories. The themes of nostalgy and of growing up from a teenager to an adult seem to structure the album. But he expresses no regret, nor any sadness, but rather a distant and amused vision.
Although very personal, music remains here also a matter of encounters. A few of his friends have collaborated to the making of this album. Curtis (leader of the band Empire) signs along with him Lights In The Sky, a tribute to Manchester ; Cosmo Vitelli, partner since ³Icons², co-produced These Emotions. Benjamin Morando, member of the Octet (a precious Diamondtraax artist Morando made an elegant featuring on ³Sneakers and Thongs² for), comes in all along the album, as the fun trouble-maker,with his elegant cut and paste, and his electronic pranks,. Although Mr Diamond also plays guitar, bass and handles part of the synthesizer and programs, he found the right people to do the right thing and boost up his songs : the Scotish drummer Marc Kerr (Mellow, the Rita Mitsouko, Pierre Bondu etc.), the bassist Lionel Rault (Flairs, Symphonic Orchestra). Lionel will as well be on stage with a true band (bass, drums, guitare, and synthesizer). Because now that Benjamin has quality songs, he¹s getting ready to face and seduce the public : ³I never imagined recording without doing any live.
Thanks to DiamondTraxx
