Marco Benevento has revealed the details for a new solo album, Benevento, alongside the release of a new single from the project, “Marco & Mimo”. The Joe Russo’s Almost Dead keyboardist and touring bandleader’s latest solo release is due out on June 10th via Royal Potato Family.
The title takes inspiration from Paul McCartney‘s 1970 self-titled solo debut, McCartney. Beyond that, Marco embodies the Beatles songwriter’s loose, keyboard-forward approach to his first solo effort. On Benevento, Marco performs all of the instruments save for auxiliary percussion from Mamadouba “Mimo” Camara—featured on “Marco & Mimo”—as well as backing vocals from the keyboardist’s wife and children. On this latest single, the third overall from Benevento following “At the End or the Beginning” and “Winter Rose“, audiences hear the heavy West African psychedelic influence that permeates Benevento.
“This record really acts as a psychedelic window into my studio and my brain,” Benevento said. “The studio was a good place to be trapped for the last few years. I was surrounded by tape machines and gear. The album started to become this document of a crazy dude losing his mind in the woods—and maybe regaining it.”
During the COVID lockdowns of the past two years, Benevento found musical sanctuary in Fred Short Studios, his home studio in Woodstock, NY. Working by himself, Marco toggled through his vast array of musical equipment, from his go-to favorites to others coated in dust. In the end, Benevento proved a swan song for his former workspace as he has decamped to a significantly larger home studio.
“Wall-to-wall keyboards, mics, amps, drums, the place was about to explode,” Benevento joked.
While Marco does man nearly all the positions, he utilizes lyrics from San Diego poet Al Howard. Five of the 11 tracks on Benevento bear Howard’s words, whittled down from ten pages of lyrical sketches.
“It was a new thing for me to dive in to—using someone’s lyrics,” Benevento said. “Or, I should say, finding a way to fit someone else’s lyrics into my tunes. I was a bit fed up with my own lyrical ideas, and was immediately drawn to Al’s writing.”
The result of the imposed isolation is a musically introspective collection of songs. The trance-like rhythms and sonic fusions on Benevento will even stretch on into its follow-up, Benevento II (another nod to McCartney), already in the works.
“I guess all my records are kind of experimental and weird, but this one is really unique,” Benevento said. “Records are snapshots of time, and this is from a time when it was just me, dialing knobs and making mixes and inventing how things could sound.”
Listen to “Marco & Mimo”, the new single from the forthcoming Marco Benevento album, Benevento. Click here to pre-order and scroll down for the tracklist and album artwork, as well as some upcoming tour dates.
Marco Benevento – “Marco & Mimo”
