Ben Kweller's Outsized Personality Continues To Charm
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 14, 2012 7:20PM
Ben Kweller is the kind of kid who will write a song about squashing a penny under the wheels of the train and make an anthem of it, and we're not kidding. He's elevated that pedestrian task to stadium rock status. So it's no surprise that his latest, Go Fly A Kite, mines the same mediocre subject matter in an attempt to elevate the day to day into the realm of the epic.
Here's the thing about Kweller. He does just that. We call him a kid but the dude's been at this for a really long time, and he's artfully outgrown his mimetic roots to develop into his own voice. Granted, said voice is deeply rooted in a land where multitrack vocals and 70s Southern twang still live strong, but who can deny a little of that in their life.
Live, Kweller is an exuberant force that plays up to stadium tropes in such a way that makes you wanna hug him instead o scoffing at him. Every time we've seen Kweller his agenda seems simply to be to ensure everyone has a blast. His new album dose just that and we suspect his appearance at Lincoln Hall on March 31 won't fall short either. Don't miss him bring his outsized personality and full bore rock show to a relatively intimate space.