That’s The Way It Is
These days, Benjamin Wagner is a 22-year-old singer-songwriter in Saratoga Springs trying to make a name for himself with his debut CD “Bloom.” But when he attended college four years ago, Wagner wanted to be “the next Walter Cronkite.”
“No shit,” Wagner muses. “That’s what I wrote on my college application to Northwestern — which rejected me because I mispelled Cronkite.”
Oh well. Wagner did end up going to the highly regarded Newhouse School for Public Communications at Syracuse University, but it wasn’t long before the music bug bit him. For three years, he played with an alternative rock band, Smokey Junglefrog, which performed alongside the likes of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and almost won a SAMMY in 1992. The band broke up, however, prompting Wagner to explore the solo realm. His first release, “Always Almost There,” also was nominated for a SAMMY last year.
After graduation, Wagner travelled cross-country and went through a Vision Quest, a Native American rite of passage, in Utah. He had a few days to listen to what the voices of the universe told him about his direction.
“I thought I’d find out I’m supposed to be an accountant in Chicago,” jokes Wagner, who grew up in the Midwest. “But I found I was on the right path.”
In October, the young songwriter moves to Saratoga to live with his brother, an editor for Broadcast News Networks. Over the winter, he recorded the CD in pianist Carl Landa’s studio upstairs at the Metro in Saratoga. The result is a bit more contemplative than “Always Almost There,” suggesting anything from the more acoustic side of Blind Melon to Dan Fogelberg.
Wagner celebrates the release of “Bloom” on Monday at the Caffe Lena, and he expects that the scene will be seeing more of him in the coming months.
“They sure as hell better not expect to see me less,” he laughs.
Metroland (Albany, NY)
New Albums Spring Up
Last week, Soundcheck heralded the arrival of spring with a story about “One More Monster,” the debut from the band Bloom. This week, Soundcheck continues the theme of spring-in-bloom — or maybe Bloomin’ Spring? — by announcing the release of “Bloom,” the new album-length CD by Saratoga Springs’ Benjamin Wagner.
After the long, cold winter, it certainly is refreshing to hear the unbridled optimism that Wagner brings to the album’s opening tune, “Late November Mind,” when he croons, “And if you think that spring’s another million miles away, just imagine all the flowers that will bloom.”
Wagner moved eastward from Syracuse University to the Spa City in October, and he didn’t waste any time making musical connections. On assignment for The Saratogian, Wagner found himself interviewing Saratoga jazz pianist Carl Landa, and an unlikely alliance was born.
“At first, I actually didn’t think that we had that much common ground,” admits Wagner, who had played in the alternative rock band Smokey Junglefrog for four years while in Syracuse.
But Wagner ended up enlisting Landa as co-producer for the album recorded in Landa’s 24-track studio in the third floor of the Club Metro with special guests like guitarist Eric Gilman, cellist Nate Barr and Raphael Chevalier adding their talents to the session.
The CD of all-original songs casts Wagner — whose warm voice recalls David Wilcox and early James Taylor — in singer-songwriter mode, a bit more folky than his solo debut album. Wagner describes last years “Always Almost There” — which earned Wagner a nomination as best new artist at last weekends SAMMY Awards in Syracuse — as “more jangly and rock ‘n’ rollish in the alternative zone.”
Still, the new “Bloom” isn’t easy to peg. “I don’t think anyone knows where to put it stylistically,” he says. “It’s not folk by a long shot.”
The Albany Times-Union (Albany, NY)
