Ben Sommers (facebook/twitter) has taken this whole story-telling through music to beyond its normal four-minute boundary to a whole album in the form of Avocado Chip and a accompanying novel. I’ve embedded a few pages of the novel, but this is a music blog and that is what I’ll focus on…

Lyrically he’s built the album around the fictional town of Starving Jane – a “funny old town” to quote the opening track. He weaves the stories of greed and triumph between twisted musical genres, breaking paths down to strike on anew.

Musically the album darts from place to place, from the hypnotic Sapien Express that reminds me a little of the electronic folk sound of Tunng – to the subtle and honest Elephant You. That the music is not the whole show is apparent on some songs like Every Flower Dies Someday that doesn’t quite hold attention on its own. But its when you hear the whole album together that Sommers raconteur skill becomes apparent.

It’s an album in the troubadour tradition, with a story at its soul – a soundtrack of the dystopian modern world narrated and scored by Sommers.

Avocado Chip is out on Sunday on 360 Degree Music.

Ben Sommers – Sapien Express
Ben Sommers – Elephant, You