Ben Arthur
Edible Darling

(Bardic)

First Appeared at The Music Box, May 2004, Volume 11, #5

Written by John Metzger

There’s little doubt that Ben Arthur has a knack for crafting infectious tunes, but for all his candy-coated melodies, there’s little substance lurking beneath the surface. His sophomore effort Edible Darling goes down easy, but it doesn’t satisfy nearly as well as one might expect. The problem is that Arthur seems to take a populist approach to songwriting, which is never a good idea if one truly wishes to be considered an artist. Although he does occasionally strike gold, his general tendency is to utilize every cliched lyric and hook at his disposal, and he never even attempts to take a risk at being anything more than a mainstream success. His jingly, jangly grooves are innocuous enough, frequently recalling the alt-rock luster of hits by Barenaked Ladies, Pete Yorn, and Smash Mouth, but while there certainly are worse avenues to traverse, there are far better ones too, especially for someone as talented as Arthur appears to be.

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Ratings

1 Star:   Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2004 The Music Box