The press release accompanying this CD, The Blue and The Green, calls Benji Cossa a mad genius. I am pretty sure they have got it half right.
It would be safe to say that Benji Cossa is an acquired taste. Somewhere on this earth there are no doubt people who will embrace his style of music, but I wasn’t quite one of them.
Cossa has been producing his eclectic style of music for indie labels for over a decade. He is one of those artists who presents his music and you can take it or leave it, since it doesn’t inspire any mediocre feelings. Even classifying it is a chore.
“5 More Minutes Alone (Time Bomb)” is one of the better efforts on the album, a folk-pop tune that recalls classic Donovan hits. If the whole album had been in this soft reflective style it would have been very good. However, “Sunday” ruins any goodwill by sounding like a bad Tiny Tim copy, the irritating vocal ruining a fairly well-written song.
“Rainbow” continues this strange odyssey. I cannot begin to figure out what instruments are used on this track (is that a glockenspiel?). The song does have an interesting, quirky beat, though. “Sunset” returns Cossa’s vocals to the upper-registry range, though not of the dog-killing frequency on “Sunday.”
See, Cossa is a competent songwriter. The lyrics range from the reflective to the bizarre at times but are well crafted. The production is sound and the various instruments usually fit together. It is the lack of a consistent vocal style that hurts the album. It sets the listener on edge and does not allow a comfortable listening groove to develop; maybe this works live, but it doesn’t translate to the home stereo.
But maybe that oddness is what Cossa is looking for. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think so.
