Setting the tone with a pulsating guitar, Ben Teeney opens his double release and two-part story, Perfect Stranger x Gretzky’s Advice with the lyrics, “I’m just gonna think out loud, I don’t know what to say, I don’t wanna screw things up, nothing has to change…”
Perfect Stranger, which is the first song, expands to tell the story of a crush that Ben had, that he sought to develop. Speaking on the track, the rising artist from Toronto says, “It was written after I had developed a massive crush on one of my best friends and wanted to ask them out through song – only for it to not work out.”
Evolving into an introspective and emotive delivery, Perfect Stranger features an arpeggiated bass layer with driving pop rock guitars and synths that inspire movement. We love how the song develops into an anthem, whilst Ben Teeney shows of his high concept and intelligent approach to song writing.
We have the contagious hook “I can be your Perfect Stranger” deeply embedded in our minds and the middle eight is pure luxury with a psychedelic synth detail that keeps giving! The song comes with a David Vassos directed music video with a concept similar to the film, Lars and the Real Girl.
Next up is Gretzky’s Advice, which is documents the aftermath of the unrequited crush with epic guitars, textured synths along with Ben Teeney‘s signature refined vocals, emo-pop meets EDM soundscape and introspective brand of song-writing. The end result of the song is an epic catharsis, leaving us in awe with an out of this world synthscape and polished delivery.
We love the two part story, and have added both songs to our New Music Spotlight playlist whilst we continue streaming Ben Teeney‘s wider discography including Saint and Rock Bottom.