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By: Jake Krolick
As a child, Washington, DC artist Benjy Ferree was fascinated with Disney's 1953 version of Peter Pan. To Ferree, Bobby Driscoll's (aka Bobby Dee) Academy Award winning portrayal of Peter Pan was one of his childhood's most important influences. As a boy, Ferree was obsessed with Pan's mischievous actions and games. Now as an adult, Ferree has chosen to pay homage to the late great Bobby Driscoll through music. Ferree's second album, Come Back to the Five and Dime Bobby Dee Bobby Dee (released February 17 on Domino), tells the tragic tale surrounding Driscolls short and hardship filled life through a remarkable collection of 14 tracks.
Ferree's music stands in a shady corner untouched by the masses. His recluse sound is defining its own category. It's part '50s diner doo-wop and part Americana filled with plenty of buzzing, hissing guitar that keeps it grounded in gutsy rock and roll. He has created an album that is simply irresistible to the rock music aficionado.
Ferree's vocal depth smacks of Jack White mixed with Freddy Mercury. Plus, he consistently wails on the guitar, catching you with playful jabs and hooks that sway like a ship in a heavy sea. Ferree is at home as he lets his voice soar through "Fear" and you're transported deep into the harmonious ballad's struggle for life. The overall effect swings in a way similar to early rock music, all covered and smothered in simple four count beats that help create a sock-hop feel. This vintage vibe comes and goes as the distorted feedback and lash of Ferree's guitar keeps one foot planted on modern ground. "Blown Out" rockets away from the '50s as Ferree pushes the listener through a fist pumping fight song, singing lines like, "She is my pirate treasure / Fills me up with oil / sooths all my boils," which just ooze unadulterated fun. This punkish sea shanty punches like The Ramones imitating a Pirates of the Caribbean walk the plank anthem. Ferree isn't afraid to go there, and this track alone is so ballsy its mere mention and guitar line should make Dean Ween drool.
Ferree is truly a multi-dimensional artist and he hides nothing, unveiling his tender moments on "The Grips," a therapeutic song dealing with the downward spiral and out-of-control drug use by his beloved Bobby Dee. He laments, "Where do all the good souls go / The human race needs to know / I am coming to grips with you." The album continues with two raging tracks, "Come to me, Coming to me" and "Pisstopher Chrisstopher." These cuts truly carry this album to the harrowed halls of raw rock as each begs to destroy your speakers while Ferree's guitar echoes out the pain of the late Bobby Dee in a triumphant, regal epitaph.
You can separate the albums tracks by their purpose. Some simmer with harsh sentiment, while others lash out in wicked layers of guitar licks, synthesizers and oddly appropriate child-filled background vocals. Ferree deftly strums us through the collapse of Bobby Dee and the result is an exceedingly well-balanced and quite versatile album filled with the kind of light and dark moments of human existence that drive good music to full blown greatness.
JamBase | Penitent
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