OK it’s a little out of date now. A new one should be on the way soon!
Two False Idols by Tunisia. An unexpectedly cohesive mix of charming acoustic songs, rock riffs, and big crashing ‘70’s progressive rock orchestral flourishes, all wrapped around lyrics presented in an intimate fashion. It really could be called ‘cinematic rock’.
So who’s behind the camera then? Enter Ben Craven from Brisbane, Australia. How, one asks, did someone, on his debut album, come to have such influences that obviously include 1970’s progressive rock music, a la Yes and Pink Floyd? Just blame the parents. Ben grew up in an environment of liberalism and was immersed as a toddler in the era of big, prog rock. His earliest musical memory is of Dark Side of the Moon. A second early memory was that the roll-up tobacco enjoyed by grown-ups listening to this music smelt remarkably different from regular tobacco.
Armed with a musical memory different from most kids his age, Ben taught himself guitar and keyboards and joined a series of bands, none of which made it and none of which remotely played the kind of music that had been burned into his mainframe as a kid. Nonetheless, the songs he wrote accumulated steadily. Finally in 2005 he quit yet another band, adopted the pseudonym Tunisia, and decided to record his own music, all of which became Two False Idols. Highlights include the pastoral majesty of Great Divide, “Mexicana”-flavoured Captain Caper, the wry country rocker, Enough About You, and the prog epic Golden Band, all infused with Ben’s sweeping production style.
Two False Idols is Ben’s realisation of the necessarily independent approach to writing and recording this sort of thing – music to please himself, leaving it to faith that it would find its audience, dispensing entirely with the band approach. The result is a work of incredible maturity from one so young. Influences range from obvious stalwarts like Pink Floyd and Brian Wilson, to the likes of Bernard Herrmann, John Barry and George Gershwin. Not to mention some less-fashionable progressive rock hipsters. So we won’t.
After releasing the album across Europe in both stereo and 5.1 surround formats, Ben is now stepping out from behind the Tunisia moniker and recording his sophomore effort. Delivering on the cinematic promise of Two False Idols, Ben is now going widescreen – literally – as he blurs the boundaries between conventional songs and orchestral soundtracks. The new album is sounding exactly like what it is: someone revelling in the creative freedom that only comes from not caring what you think others want and delivering what you feel instead.