Charlotte Rose Benjamin
Dreamtina
Self-Released
Apr 26, 2022 Web Exclusive
Martha’s Vineyard-bred singer/songwriter Charlotte Rose Benjamin’s debut album Dreamtina is a twentysomething fever fantasy, its intimate homegrown indie sensibilities remaining neck-deep in distorted dream pop fuzz and saturated in a wash of millennial irony, though Benjamin hesitates not to wear her heart on her sleeve. Through lines such as, “You don’t know me but I’ll love you till I die,” “I wanna go to the Mall of America and never come home,” and “I like martinis dirty and tequila dry/I’ve been unsatisfied since junior high,” she crafts high art from achingly human sentimentality. Simultaneously raw and sweet, Dreamtina—as brutally intense as it is facetious—could very well be more honest of a listen than the majority of the year’s mainstream releases.
Opening “Hayden Panettiere (Intro)” is a short but sweet sliver of reverberated power pop, Benjamin declaring, “I’m one half a happy person darling isn’t it a-stounding?” One almost hopes she might rework this into a full-length track, as it is absolutely wonderful. Subsequently, the down-tempo “Louis” finds Benjamin battling a crushing bout of romantic introspection as she delivers such solid lines as, “Last time I saw her, her eyes weren’t right/Someone colored them in/But they left out the light.” Instantly captivating, Benjamin’s remarkable lyrical and instrumental abilities distinguish themselves, continuing to deepen within Dreamtina’s flow. The melancholy “Deep Cut” and standout “Slot Machine,” while deeply tender in sentiment, reveal Benjamin’s penchant for experimental composition. On the latter, she refers to herself as “a vegetable trying to stay alive” within seconds of asking, “Does your girlfriend wanna stay the night?/Does she like it when you touch her thigh?/Does she know I’d let you absolutely ruin my life?” Benjamin has proven herself a master of the great unrequited love lyric, mutating its tried and true formula into an emotive stream of self-deprecating consciousness. At one point, she confesses, “I’ve got some problems but they’re so cliché,” and yet, she may as well be the only one on earth to yearn as deeply.
Elsewhere, “Cumbie’s Parking Lot” reaches for instrumental perfection, with Benjamin left alone to “join the new revolution.” The album’s dream pop influences are most evident here, especially during its chorus, on which Benjamin states, “And I don’t wanna go home yet/You could take pictures of me and post them on the internet.” The humid dejection of “Heatstroke Summer” finds the singer contemplating “[giving] it all up at 35,” seeming somehow more relaxed in her pining this time around. The muffled sound of dogs barking into the song’s second half maintains the album’s absurdist atmosphere, while its lo-fi melody carries the listener back to those dingy basements and garages in which the sound was so long ago forged. Acoustic semi-apology “Gracie” and astounding “Friend” further explore Benjamin’s perception of herself through dysfunction shared with others, declaring on the former, “It’s only because having something to lose/Makes me wanna give it away.” The latter, in all of its stinging indie pop beauty, may be the album’s second standout. Here, Benjamin utters her finest line: “You’re older than the window frame/I’m 25 and I’m in pain,” summing the album up in a single burning confession. In her discontent, Benjamin rhymes “untamed” with “Marisa Tomei,” noting her dissatisfaction with the 1993 movie Untamed Heart (who can blame her?), before eventually remarking, “God, this place is such a scene, let’s go talk shit/Next thing I’m crying.” The track serves as the ultimate expression of “just friends, but are we really?” anguish, its lyrics relatable to anyone caught up in such emotional turmoil. Closing Panther Hollow collaboration “Louis Pt. 2” winds the album down on a mellow note, it’s neo-psychedelic murmur guiding the listener further into Benjamin’s dream of ephemeral youth, at which point she sighs, “Oh Louis/Leave me be/Speak so sweet/Of the words that seem to move you more/Than mine ever could,” casting Dreamtina’s final moment in the appropriate shade of twilight.
Easily among the year’s most exciting emerging artists, Charlotte Rose Benjamin seems destined for indie glory. Her sound is entirely her own. Dreamtina is a quintessential millennial release, Benjamin’s distinctive voice considering that of her generation as a whole, speaking of its collective anxiety and desire through her intelligent, humorous, and ultimately compassionate lyrics. A unique recording, any one of Dreamtina’s tracks is tailor-made for a summer of heartache and longing, its overwhelming air of sadness never for a second short on enough beauty to keep one hoping. (www.charlotterosebenjaminmusic.com)
Author rating: 8/10
Average reader rating: 7/10
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