Ben + Vesper All This Could Kill You by: Grace Arena Mon:01-Oct-07 Label: Sounds Familyre Year: 2007 WB rating 76 out of 100

Ben + Vesper are not your everyday married couple; they are modern day storytellers uniting a pastiche of genre and sound to create the quirky debut album that is All This Could Kill You. The duo produces music that is refreshing and strikingly honest in its delivery and conviction, using unconventional chords and song structures, making categorisation difficult.

Because of this unconventionality, All This Could Kill You can be a slightly uncomfortable listen and hard to appreciate. The tracks lack regular musical patterns or catchy choruses and their arrangements are complex with an improvised feel. As such the songs reflect their own unique fingerprint which delightfully gets under your skin over time. Telling an abstract story of romanticised domestic bliss (including tales about report cards, work and rest, the sufferings of life, money and the space in between), All This Could Kill You is human, accessible and charming. Its chemistry seemingly spawned by the closeness of their relationship, creating a musical sophistication that is gorgeous and mysterious.

Ben + Vesper’s non-conformist musical personality is most apparent on the track ‘8 Mo’, which mixes sliding vocals with an almost jazz-like instrumental ornamentation, and woodwind that leads the track to its conclusion. The arrangement is stilted with regular pauses and it has no definite structure, making it hard to absorb yourself into the melody.

The multi layered instrumentation balances wonderfully with their harmonies, and compliments the contrast in the two singers’ voices. Their sweet melodies are also accentuated by the influence of Sufjan Stevens and Daniel Smith, both of whom appear on the record providing vocals and playing the banjo, piano, oboe, recorder, and percussion. The influence of Stevens is particularly evident in ‘Carnaval’, the song constructed around softly plucked guitar patterns and floating harmonies, the signatures of many of Sufjan’s Michigan-era tracks. However, the song is not all influence and its reflective lyrics: “Don’t you despise them, their strength is my feed” and “We rule the streets today, no one is following”, draw the listener deeper into their mystical world.

One of All This Could Kill You’s more infectious tracks is ‘The Floridian’, which slowly layers vocal tones and musical orchestration with one of the most traditional song structures of the record. It explores the full range of Ben + Vesper’s vocals, coupled with sweetly dissonant instrumentation that is well met by suitably abstract lyricism: “Straight lines aren’t everything” and “I’d like it if you could keep it together.  This sudden manifestation of convention does not distract from the overall character of All This Could Kill You, rather it accentuates the duo’s song writing abilities and takes the album to another level.

The seductively sweet intricacy of Ben + Vesper’s music gives the album a unique appeal, setting them apart from other music on the indie scene. All This Could Kill You is musically refined and melodically strong, its only downfall is that it is occasionally too abstract, potentially missing listeners on their first time through. But their interplay of instrumentation, vocals and quirky composition plants a seed in your head that is captivating enough to draw the listener back again and again.