Anyone who knows the name Ben Bostick will undoubtedly associate it with an Americana sound, a genre he has pursued over five critically received albums. So, it may surprise those who have followed him along such well-traveled, country-infused, sonic trails to hear his latest single, “Flying High.”
This change of direction comes from Bostick’s response to the rise of AI as a creative tool. Bostick decided to beat AI in its own game, in the face of the inevitability of music made via such a platform becoming an unstoppable force. Rather than taking the “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach, he instead joined them and worked out how to beat them.
“Flying High” is a synthesis of digital deftness and emotive depth. The one thing that such music has never been able to replicate is feeling—real, authentic, honest, human emotion. “Flying High is the sound of an artist breathing life into the form and giving it a human touch.
The result is a song, and indeed an album to follow, Become Other, that blends the computerized sound of what comes next with the human presence of the here and now, and a theme, that of the hero’s journey, as old as storytelling itself. Generically more pop than anything else, but genres aren’t what this is all about. This is about nothing less than exploring the future of music.
It is a brave experiment, especially for an artist so established and associated with a signature sound. But that is what makes Ben Bostick such a great artist. It is easy to rest on your musical laurels and produce, as great as his music is, essentially more of the same. Here we find someone exploring the future, pushing the boundaries, travelling to new and unexplored territories, and doing so at the expense of his audience and his comfort zones.
Isn’t that what every musician should be doing?
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