BENNY SINGS INTERVIEW (STONES THROW)

BY MATT PANG

LOS ANGELES, 02/16/19

Benny Sings, other known as Tim van Berkestijn, is an Amsterdam-based lo-fi pop artist who’s probably been in your favorite artists’ listening history. Benny, who is best known for his melodic and soft sound, has previously released albums under labels including Sonar Kollektiv and Dox Records, but 2019 was a new step for him. Along with new life changes, Benny recently signed with Stones Throw Records to help publish his on-going music including his new album, City Pop. The project was titled after the specific Japanese genre that best represented the production as well as style of music. To which was founded in the 1980s, City Pop style music found popularity in Japan as it help represented music with a big city theme as well as combining influences of album-oriented Rock and Jazz fusion. Benny’s last album, ‘Beat Tape’ was released in 2018 which consisted of a ‘mixtape-like’ compilation of short tunes and production samples. Benny talks his transition to fatherhood resulting in a 4 year hiatus since releasing his last full length project, Studio, as well as his collaborating & working process that helped catch the ears of big artists like John Mayer and Frank Ocean.

“There are a lot of musicians that are a fan of mine, while the rest doesn’t know anything about me.”

M: Let’s talk about this new album, City Pop. Were there any themes or expectations upon making this project?

Benny Sings: No, not really. It’s just been an album that just happened to pop up. I’ve recently had a very heavy couple of years with getting married, a house, and having children so it was all a big rollercoaster. Along with work as well, there’s been a lot of big assignments so this album just came in between. When I had a certain inspiration or wanted to find a certain chord, I sat down and quickly wrote something and then at a certain point I suddenly had 7–8 songs. I thought ‘Hey, this is an album’, so really most of my albums [in the past] have been real authentic on how I write them and what the plan is. So actually maybe this was the theme.. and that there was no plan.

So basically the gap in between times?

Yeah, I kind of felt free to do whatever I wanted. It felt a bit like flying, it was like the first time I got what the craft was all about. Before, these albums were all these extreme thoughts and experiments with where I should go and what I should do. This one was just fueled from inspiration to do some stuff.

A more freehand direction.

Yeah, I’m actually not that kind of guy so that’s new for me. I’m pretty new with getting married and having a baby, so I’ve kind of became someone new, I guess.

Do you think there’s a different recording process when you were recording this album compared to your previous work?

No, that’s basically what’s strange about this album because for most [past] albums I find this new process. This was just like rehashing old stuff and feeling confident enough that I can just pick samples from 10 years ago and just go with that or fiddle around on the piano and not care too much that it has to be a certain kind of ‘thing’.

What kind of music do you listen to when creating?

Anything I’ve been listening to a lot like Andy Shauf, who does indie rock. Smooth sounds, happy chords, easy listening stuff but with a deep, good songwriting base. I also listen to a lot of old stuff of course like Paul McCartney’s ‘Pipes of Peace’, that album I can listen to forever. As well as yacht rock and AOR stuff like that.

Yeah, for this album I worked with Mayor Hawthorne [again] which he wrote a song with Mocky, who’s really like a hero to me. I also worked with Corneilius, in which I go to Japan once a year to play and tour as well as do writing sessions.

Did you plan on touring overseas to perform this album since you’re coming to US to debut it?

Yeah, so it’s really small amounts because I’m not a ‘live music’ guy. I’m not a great singer in that sense, I’m better in studio. I love playing, but I don’t think it’s really part of my art so I really try to not play too much. We just do one gig in LA, New York, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Paris, and a couple in Tokyo/Osaka [including festivals], but that’s it really.. the least amount possible.

Out of those places, where was one of your favorite places to perform?

Ooh, that’s a hard one. I really love playing in France because they are so in awe of the arts so when you play, they just listen and are so wowed, which is really nice. I don’t play that much so I don’t really have.. a good thing about that.

I’ve read that Goldlink first discovered your music while creating with Rick Rubin [which later led to a collaboration].

Yeah, I do have a big fan base in musicians. That has always been the case, people that are really into music, I’m a pretty big name in that small group. There are a lot of musicians that are a fan of mine, while the rest doesn’t know anything about me.

What helps you get inspiration or that process while making this album?

I think it’s always going to be other music. I always go to music I love for inspiration, like a good song just inspires the hell out of me and I’m immediately triggered to make music myself when I hear a good song because I think ‘Aww man I should try that’ and [there] I’m back at it again.

Do you find yourself listening to more music from The Netherlands or United States in particular?

I think it’s mostly U.S. music, but maybe not lately but in the past. I think it’s just where it all originated, the whole ‘Western Pop-Culture’ originated in the U.S. so that’s like the holy ground.

You were born in The Netherlands, so did you listen to a lot of Western music growing up?

Yeah, Michael Jackson was like my main thing. My whole bedroom was only posters from Michael Jackson and a lot of VHS tapes full of footage. I was really like a fan, when I was a small kid around 7 years old.

Did that inspire you to make music?

Well much later in life, but I’ve always dreamt of being a musician.

So tell me, how did the collaboration with Rex Orange County come about as that was a huge success hit last year?

Yeah, so he was a fan as well. It’s always that kind of story, he reached out ‘I want to write with you’ and he was really a small name back then. He had a couple SoundCloud songs that were going quite alright, but it wasn’t anything big at all. He then came to my studio for a week and we just wrote stuff together, which was really great. Later, he came by another week and then after that he just blew up. It was really exciting to see.

I know that track charted really well in the States, but did it receive the same response in The Netherlands?

No, in The Netherlands this kind of music doesn’t do that well. It’s just too small of a country to have this kind of niche be fertile.

Is there a big art scene in Amsterdam as well or not really?

Yeah, I guess so but I’m not really involved in that and I don’t think it’s as vibrant as you have in other big cities. My feeding is that Amsterdam is a bit of a city full of loners, which is great and I love that because I’m the same. We’re all very ambitious and working hard.

This year, you recently signed to a new record label. What made you want to sign to Stones Throw?

Yeah, that was just a dream for me. We’ve been talking my entire life about this label and it’s one of the few labels that has a name for itself.

Were there any big changes or expectations coming to a new label?

Yeah, what happens is that you get a lot more listeners from them which is really great. There’s just a big pile of fans that are presented to your stuff that don’t know you yet so that’s really good. We’ve released one song now and the reaction was super great so I’m really excited. This is really like a good, next step for me.

So why the name ‘City Pop’ and what does it represent to you?

It’s a Japanese genre of music. It’s an 80’s disco-kind genre and it just really fits my kind of sound. It’s an idea from Dutch rapper and friend of mine, who knows everything about Japan, and he said you should call it “City Pop”. It just really stuck with me because it really for me is a good name for my music. Some people call it Yacht Rock or AOR (album-oriented rock), and it always has this name ‘Rock’ in it and I don’t feel like I’m making Rock at all because I don’t like live loud guitars. So for me, City Pop was really a good term for me for the music that I make.

Recently, Frank Ocean added one of your songs to his live mix on Blonded Radio. What was that like and could we see a future collaboration?

Yeah, of course I would like that but I don’t want to push myself or anything. Yeah, that’s awesome and often the case like for instance, John Mayer just tweeted about the last release or posted on Instagram that he was into my music. I’m kind of a big name for just the musicians, while the rest of the people they don’t know me so that’s really a strange thing that I’m in which no one can really explain why it is, but it’s kind of cool.