Austin Sound

CDs are a fickle mistress; in this age of digital everything, they can be a hallowed sanctum unreachable by hard-drive errors, or they can be those scratch magnets that disappear only to be found years later in the bowels of one’s dresser or car. With Benko’s debut album, Welcome to the Follow Through, this fear of loss has been assuaged. I always know where my copy is: in my stereo.

Following the Austin penchant for defying typical instrumentation, Benko also has a knack for actually sounding decent while doing it. The first time vibraphone player Sarah Norris taps a key on opener “Isle of Man,” the concept of the vibraphone lead-line just makes sense. Something about the sustain of each note lends a hopeful air to even this somewhat sad tale, in which bassist/vocalist Eric Grostic feebly croons “they’ll leave you all alone/ they don’t know what they got ‘til you’re gone.” Grostic has a water-thin voice that retains a nerdy, angsty charm without sounding contrived, and drummer Aaron Dugan keeps his drums reined in on a short but appropriate leash.

One of the largest accomplishments of this trio is filling such a wide range of sonic space with so few instruments and so little, in the glorified rock sense, “power”. Everything this band does has a delicacy that makes even the artistic outcome, the music, seem fragile and precious. Not that Benko makes no consideration for this vulnerability; Grostic will break from his role as single-note bassist to fill in some fuzzed-out chords, freeing Norris to tap out a simple lead line, as in “Tone and Tonic”. Here, Norris also backs up on vocals to throw another blanket on the bed of sound, adding more warmth and strength during the song’s climax and unifying the whole piece.

“The Eurohit” picks up the pace with a disco-esque bassline and faster, streamlined vibe line. If you never thought you’d hear the phrase “dancy vibraphone trio,” you’re not the only one. Its not exactly rollicking, but it drives with unexpected vivacity and sets one’s feet in motion, however gently.

“Brand New Curse” represents the vocal high-point of the album; its haunting bassline and half-time drumming creating a perfect backdrop for Grostic’s lyrics, “you should’ve done better than you oughta/ you can’t judge a book in reverse/ they set you up to tear you down/ it’s a brand new curse”. Small dynamics changes build up and deconstruct the song to dramatic effect, and a prolonged classical-sounding vibe solo allows Norris to take the forefront.

On the dark jazzy number, “They’ll Never Take Us Alive,” bell-like bass harmonics accompany a slow and mysterious bassline. Dugan focuses on light cymbal work and rim hits, while Norris shows off a surprising amount of vocal edginess, injecting a refreshing yet slight modicum of sex and danger. This rouge ruse works, but also exists in a vacuum when compared to the innocent, endearing nature of the rest of the album.

Contrastingly, “East Side” strips away all complexity for the sake of catchiness, resulting in essentially a single line of lyrics being iterated for the entirety of the track. The rest of the album suffers from sincere yet artless lyrics with only a few exceptions, but here it really glares through. “Missing Zoe and I’m going to the East Side/ Gentrifying and I’m going to the East Side” may seem incongruous, because it is. Nonetheless, “East Side” is pleasant. Infallably so. Unyieldingly so.

Grostic and Norris seem to hit it head on as they harmonize in the closing track, “Welcome to the follow-through you never thought you’d see/ and it hits/ you now”. There is nothing extraordinary about Benko. Fairly simple song structures and underwhelming vocals prepare this album for a fall - a fall that it never takes. The album sounds so exultant even in its dark moments that it makes the listener feel better. It is almost therapeutic in its aural agreeability; not in the Kenny G, Jack Johnson elevator schlock sort of way, but rather naturally, effortlessly, and unpretentiously. If an album can make the listener more hopeful and productive just by listening to it, it has earned its keep. If one ever needs to feel better, just go to your own stereo, turn it on, and ease up the volume. Chances are Benko’s Welcome to the Follow Through is still in your stereo, too.

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