After leaving a long corporate career and beginning formal music studies, Ben Walker decided on a career change—he was going to write and record music.

The Australian singer-songwriter has now released Castles, the first taste of his debut EP Time to Go.
The new track follows the healthy reception Ben’s previous singles—Playing Alone, Money in the Jar and Smiles—received in 2020. Ben’s latest is a folk-fuelled adult contemporary song with a narrative that attempts to explore the mysterious and all-encompassing and undoubtedly anxiety-inducing act of parenting. Well, not necessarily parenting but a particular viewpoint as it relates to that responsibility.
Ben tells the story behind Castles, ‘As a parent, there is nothing better than seeing your children completely lost in play. The song is trying to portray that parental instinct, the desire to give your children everything they could possibly need and want for a magical childhood. The reality is life’s hard, and we don’t always know the backstory.
There is normally a lot more going on in people’s lives.’ With a vocal style that’s a little Mark Knopfler and a touch Paul Kelly, Ben’s understated treatment of such a heavy subject matter creates the usual folk-aligned effect.

‘‘The rhythmic elements solidify, a straight time feel is ushered in, and the chorus does the job of what a main hook so often does—amplify the dynamic, reveal a melodic and satisfying resolution.
As the narrative opens up, setting the scene with the character and ‘coffee time, the routine way’, so too, does the music—the rhythmic elements solidify, a straight time feel is ushered in, and the chorus does the job of what a main hook so often does—amplify the dynamic, reveal a melodic and satisfying resolution.
All this seems to align with how Ben would like to be viewed as an artist also, as he says, ‘Poetry put to music, I really want a listener to bathe in the song and get carried away either by the metaphor and imagery or by the melody.’
LISTEN TO BEN WALKER HERE:
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