Ben Lloyd is a New Zealand based singer-songwriter who has been writing acoustic guitar-based rock songs for over 30 years, both in bands and also playing solo gigs. ‘Leap of Faith’, recorded with producer Tim Julian is his second album, following on from 2013’s ‘Lighthouse’ which was recorded with guitarist Santiago Rebagliati from Kokomo. My initial reaction when first listening to this was to have a huge smile on my face, as this is music from the heart and not something which has been created for a mass audience who have been trained to listen to whatever is in the charts and to worship at the altar of autotune and banality What we have here is an artist who is heading back to the likes of The Peppercorns and The Loveless to create music which is too aggressive for singer/songwriter, too pop for those who want their rock to be sweaty, and too rock for those who want to be in the mainstream.

There is a lovely huge guitar sound behind all of this, and in some ways one can think of Ben as approaching music in the same manner as Bryan Adams, with a soulful voice full of passion. I can imagine Ben playing with fellow Kiwi’s Ravenhall as although his Go West tendencies are not quite a pronounced, they have obviously been an influence on him as well and they will attract the same type of audience. This is music to be enjoyed for its own sake from a performer who definitely should be far more in the spotlight. This is certainly worthy of discovery from those who want their music to be melodic and rock based without ever getting heavy.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://x.com/bigbenlloyd