Despite only being 54 years old, the Silverbridge-based Americana singer-songwriter Ben Reel has been making music for almost four decades. In his storied career, Ben has supported the likes of Jools Holland and The Cranberries and has toured the world.

Ben’s tenacity and consistency in a shifting musical environment can be attributed to a simple fact: He loves making music and cannot envision doing anything else until the day he dies, and, with acts like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison continuing to perform, write, record, and tour into their eighties, he admits this has somewhat pressured him to go for at least thirty more years.

But, during his tenure, Ben has noticed that, despite the affirming revival of vinyl in recent years, music today is primarily consumed in bite-sized segments. Despite this, he will never give up on the concept of the album.

Thematic throughlines and the story they tell interest Ben, and they are his primary consideration when entertaining a new project. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, he began gaining inspiration. “I did a lot of writing during it, just to keep my voice going,” Ben remembers of his time during the pandemic.

“For the first year, every Friday night, I did a concert, you know? A streaming, online, house concert. That was fun. People tuned in. It was nearly like a night out for us, in our living room.

“At the start, it was fun because my wife was doing it with me, and my daughter-in-law was like the compere, the host. So, it was like a comedy/musical, because we were having the transfer and the bit of craic.”

But, eventually, his participants grew disinterested as the restrictions continued. As he was doing these livestreams, he was also penning ideas about the world as it existed then. While Ben persisted with livestreams for a while, it was less fun when alone, so he decided to quit. But this freed him up to begin work on his twelfth album in his home studio.

“I would’ve started just laying down the tracks myself, with a click,” Ben says of starting to record his lockdown writings. “I would’ve put some drum samples stuff on it, just for me to play on, and a guide bass.

“Then, when I was happy with the arrangements, I would bring in my drummer and bass player, and they would do the proper bass and drums. Then, from there, I’d bring in the guitar player and the keyboard player, and build it like that.”

Ben’s latest album, Spirit’s Not Broken, was permitted to geminate gradually as it was free from time restraints or expectations. In the end, it had taken about two years to finalise. The album, which was released today, comprises writings from the lockdown era and tracks written afterwards.

Spirit’s Not Broken has the hopefulness of the era, for what could come next, as heard on the album’s opener and lead single, “Better Be Better.” But, despite the album’s name, it deals with some fraught subjects, too. The second song on the album, “Come What June,” for example, deals with the ephemerality of human lifespans.

Yet, for Ben, the consistent theme he wanted to hit for the album (and life, broadly) is hope through the good and bad. “All my albums are hopeful,” he says. “There’s always a hopeful message, and there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.

“Some of my songs might be melancholic, but I think I always leave the door open with the light coming in at the end. In this day and age, with AI, the human spirit is being sucked out of us all the time, so it’s kind of a message, saying, ‘The human spirit won’t be broken. It will always find a way to conquer,’ and, basically, good will conquer evil in the end.”

Ben Reel’s new album, Spirit’s Not Broken, is out today. You can keep up with Ben through his website.

Ben will perform a launch show for the album at Arthur’s Blues and Jazz Club, Dublin, tonight at 20:30. You can purchase tickets here.

Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… tonight at 22:00 (IST) to hear this interview in full. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.