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CENTRAL ARKANSAS 38 WHAT'S UP! FEBRUARY 20-26, 2022 Characters Brought To Life Ben Richman writes rock opera for new CD Sean Clancy Arkansas Democrat-Gazette A n indie rock opera about love and depression called "Journey to a Dead End" might sound like a pity party of woe and misery. It is not that. The new album from North Little Rock singer-songwriter and multi- instrumentalist Ben Richman is a tuneful collection of smart jangle-pop that explores self-doubt, confusion and the highs and lows of a relationship. Richman, former guitarist for the Revolutioners and Highway 5, has been releasing self-recorded solo projects for a few years. Earlier albums include "American Deadbeat, "Slow Burn Panic Attack" and 2019's "Kid Burnout." As on his previous work, "Journey to a Dead End," which dropped Jan. 20 and can be found at the usual streaming outlets, Richman plays every instrument and handles all the vocals, including the well-placed backgrounds on "Oh No" and "The Shadows of What You Said." What is different about the new album, which he began writing in 2020, is that he is working conceptually for the first time. We spoke with the 34-year-old Richman recently. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Q: Did you know this was going to be a concept album from the start? That happened organically. Two of the first songs I wrote were "Expectations" and the title track. I realized very quickly that these songs were connected, that they were kind of like bookends of a relationship and of a story. As I kept writing, I found more and more connections like that. It was an exciting way to approach the album. Once I got into it, it became a mission of telling a story from beginning to end. Q: Is there a specific relationship you're talking about in these songs? No. I would say it's an amalgamation of my experiences, but once I started writing it as a story it became bigger than that. It's not strictly autobiographical. I don't think of it as a story from my life; it's maybe inspired by my life. Q: So when you're writing and recording, are you thinking of specific characters you've made up? Early on, I was drawing from my own life, but I definitely got to a point where I was thinking about these two people in this relationship. And some songs aren't all sung from one person's perspective. When I started getting into that, it really became more about characters and trying to develop them and think about what they were feeling in these different moments. The last song I wrote for the album, "It's Not Alright, but It's Okay," arose from that. I had everything else fully written before I wrote that. In this last act, in the last few songs, one of the characters' feelings weren't being expressed, so that song was one where it felt like there needed to be a moment when this character expresses what they are feeling. Q: You said the title cut was one of the first songs you wrote for this. It's perfectly placed at the end of the album, especially with the opening line: "I think we've got time for one last song." I'm guessing that the sequencing of these 13 tracks was pretty important to telling the story. Yeah, that was a very big thing. I love The Who. Green Day's [rock opera] 'American Idiot' is one of my favorite albums and [David Bowie's 'The Rise and Fall of] Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.' I love the idea of telling a story like that and sequencing is important. It adds another layer, especially on something like this because it's an emotional journey. The first act is much more upbeat; as you get deeper, it gets darker and heavier. Q: You're doing everything yourself on your albums. Do you have people who listen to it as it's in progress? No. I never do that, and it's probably a weakness on my part. It's a strange process. I have total freedom to do what I want, but there's no feedback. For whatever reason, I'm an introverted person, and I tend to work alone. I enjoyed being in bands for the most part but found it restricting, not because of them but because of my process. Q: Now that the album is out in the world, how do you feel about it? I think it's my best work. I think that the concept has helped make it more cohesive than my past albums and my songwriting is better. But it's a ton of work, partly because I do everything myself. The first month or two after I release an album is when I say I'm never doing that again. By the third month, I start writing the next album (laughs). "Journey to a Dead End," Ben Richman Released Jan. 20 Available on Spotify