Ben Stark - 'Creature'

About halfway into Ben Stark's latest album, Creature, the song "CAH" provides a strong litmus test for the listener. Over top of skittering, programmed drums and very processed, crunching guitar chords, Stark sings lyrics that seem, to the unitiated, to be a series of random phrases designed to cause at least mild offense (e.g "Cumming on your enemies", "Locking doors with your erection"). But in actuality, they are from the card game Cards Against Humanity–hence the acronymous title–and rather than random, offensive phrases, they are ... uh, random offensive phrases from a card game.* Ok so maybe the song doesn't make a whole lot of lyrical sense in any context. That said, the song and album as a whole seem likely to appeal to listeners whose sensibilities are aligned with enthusiasts of the game.



While "CAH" is fairly representative of the album's lyrical content–or at least the general lyrical tone (the other songs are, for the most part, more comprehensible)–it exemplifies only one facet of the many musical styles with which Stark experiments. Examples of the album's musical diversity include the title track, which revolves around ukulele arpeggios adorned with synths and drum machines. "Everything is Happening" and the excellent Beck cover "Asshole" combine aggressive, somewhat arrhythmic guitar strumming with some impressive vocal harmonies. "Turning (eht ot emocleW)" is based around a repeated, circular keyboard figure. The pounding, marching drums, lurching synths, and alternately menacing and bubbling vocal weirdness of "Infanino" reminds this reviewer of a more cough-syrup-drenched version of a horror film soundtrack. "Gabe's Grill" is a chiptune, straight out of a NES game. And bonus track "Chair" is almost indescribably straightforward. This is an album that makes use of a wide range of musical styles and textures, some more effectively than others. Among the highlights are the Kanye West style distorted autotune solos on "There's a Skeleton Inside You" and, especially, "Everything Is Happening".** The title track is pleasantly remniscient of more-electronic Eels. And the cover of the Ducktales theme is faithful to the spirit of the original.

This is not Stark's first album, but it is his first released (to the public, at least) under his own name. Previously, he had put out albums under the Suspicious moniker and as one half of the American Dream and ATHGITBHCLAW.*** This album is consistent with the general character of his previous output while showing greater production values and more varied musical textures. And while absurdist humor had always been an element of his music, this album is probably the most uniformly lyrically unserious thing that he has released. Not all of the musical experiments work and not all of the jokes are funny–the synth-horn-driven, Westworld tribute "Yul Brynner (Bang Yer Dead)" is mostly a misfire on both accounts****–but the overall playfullness and willingness to experiment is are welcome attributes. There are more hits than misses and, to those with the right sensibilities, the album provides an ultimately genuinely enjoyable listen.

Creature is available for pre-order from Ben Stark's Bandcamp page.

*Or at least, this is what I assume. I am not actually familiar with Cards Against Humanity except that I am generally aware that it exists.
**In fact, Stark's vocals are probably the most impressive element of the album overall.
***Full disclosure: I was the other half of those bands.
****Though the lyric describing Westworld as "kind of like Jurassic Park but less interesting" is pretty funny.