SINGLE PREMIERE: 'Reputation' by Ben Mastwyk
The latest toe-tapping track from the Melbourne troubadour
The latest single from Melbourne’s Ben Mastwyk is called ‘Reputation’ and it’s fair to say Mastwyk has a reputation: for being incredibly entertaining live, riveting in recording, and creating his own brand of country music that some may call cosmic, some interdimensional (or maybe that’s the same thing?), as well as being creatively voracious.
However, that’s not what the single – which is having its premiere here today (available below) – is about. Taken from Mastwyk’s forthcoming fourth album, Let Me at the Night (to be released on 18 July), he says of the song: ‘People talk. The rumour mill runs rampant. Gossip is the devil’s radio. The shiny ones attract attention. And talk travels. “Reputation” was born from whispers of talk on the town, about myself and my crew. It’s funny when these things get back to the source. My take is that if people are talking about you then you’re attracting attention!’
There’s a certain insouciance to this track that underscores that last line – that having a reputation is a sign that you’re being noticed, that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing – and the paradox of that is that the lightness of touch in the song can only come from the artist putting in the work so that he can relax and fly. Mastwyk has long put in the work – and while that’s likely not the reputation he’s referring to above, it’s one he deserves, and one that ensures the audience wins.
Mastwyk is joined on the song by Craig Kelly on bass and the popular Patrick Wilson on drums, a rhythm section who give ‘Reputation’ its toe-tapping swing just as Mastwyk provides the hypnotic swagger.
Ben Mastwyk and His Millions launch Let Me at the Night on Sunday 20 July at Leadbeater Hotel, Richmond, Victoria. Tickets available here.