Ben's Symphonic Orchestra > press

Junk Shop

NME (5 2001) : « Imagine a stylistic mix of Badly Drawn Boy, Beck and Supergrass.[…] You’d swear this one-man band, BSO, is in fact the latest British pop eccentric. »

I-D (2 2001) : « BSO and its' crazy, psychedelic universe create a quality, quirky pop, home made, head-fried psychedelia and lo-fi beat. »

DJ Magazine (2 2001) : « An excellent debut, that lies somewhere between the work of The Beatles and of the Divine Comedy. »

The Guardian (1 2001) : « BSO is the quirky vision of an "anti-star" Frenchman who has not only adopted Britain as his home but also absorbed the best of our guitar bands, blending Blur and Supergrass with a French Style and good-natured US surf sounds to create sweetly skewed pop germs. »

Les Inrockuptibles (6 2000) : « The symphonic of this young Parisian defies all the established laws in physics and orchestra directing. »

Melody Maker (11 1999) : « Awesome early Beck-style magic. Ben, get in touch, you rule »

Drifting

Les Inrockuptibles (1 2004) : « Because he performs this feat with the ingenious ingenuity of a lyric poet, Rault very often reminds us of the pleasantly mad Kevin Ayers who exists in “Joy of Toy”. He is, just as the English was, animated by the strong will to celebrate the art of melody underneath all of its forms. »

Rock'n'Folk (12 2003) : « […] "Drifting" is full of ideas, dreams of idealistic pop harmonies and almost always reaches its target. » 4/5

Unpeeled (12 2003) : « I just want to draw your attention to this stunning record. Kicking off with "If you want to be my lady" with it's scuzzed, ramshackle guitared charm hitched to sweet vox and a real late 60's Beatle feel this is a set that covers all the pop n rocking bases... »

Magic (11 2003) : « 13 tracks, rich and never overcharged, with a highly melodic content, through which Ben shows how he can multiply elegant and fixed arrangements, mixing delicate folk to immoderate modern orchestrations. Situated between The Beatles & Captain Beefheart. » 5/6

Chronic'art (11 2003) : « Drifting finally appears to be eclectic and ambitious, renewing the curiosity and listening into subtle variations, going from beatbox (at the beginning of the tube: “Miss you”) to a juvenile xylophone (“From Hull to Hawaï”: pretty song, influenced by the Married Monk-Fabio), with in incursion into long psychedelic instrumental moments (“Folk is dead”) or into very Hazlewoodien and country one (“Bring me back to my country”). »
Lire la chronique complète

POPnews (10 2003) : « Wood, ropes, choruses, a drop of electricity: pop music’s perfect recipe, saint trinity? How can one not be, in front of such evidences, totally transported by happiness? »
Lire la chronique complète

Le Monde (10 2003) : « Remarkably arranged and performed, Drifting’s 13 compositions all have their own identity, with, in common, the sense of details, ornamentation and an emotional return that don’t turn to affection. »

Rock Sound (10 2003) : « It can remind us of what the High Llamas were doing, a few years ago, or even the Kinks in their most bucolic moments, but it’s always stunning how fresh and inventive it is. » 8/10