With Every Step

There’s a magnetic quality to this album I’ve seldom experienced in a first collection of original music. Its playful melodies disarm you. Its rhythms crescendo and recede like a bubbling hot spring beneath your feet—you can’t predict the moment they’ll erupt, but you’re certain they will.

Between tributes, creative reinterpretations and new tunes, there are plenty of stories to uncover in these tracks. Beloved people and places are consistently evoked warmly and with gratitude. Nods to eminent forces of art (Lyle Mays, Chris Thile, Carole King) bring new growth to well-trodden paths. And in his own compositions, Benjamin leaves deep, distinct footprints.

I’m fortunate to have shared some of the memories these songs depict: a hike we took through muddy hills that nearly swallowed our shoes (“To Lift the Earth”); afternoons spent slack-jawed as the Blue Angels pirouetted above the San Francisco Bay (“Fleet Week”). Benjamin conveys the spirit of these moments beautifully. If music is imagery of the mind, “With Every Step” photographs its subjects in comprehensive detail.

But a drummer at play isn’t content to capture stills. He moves about in three dimensions, looking at ideas from every conceivable angle. “She Will Come” expresses a profoundly personal love, yet acknowledges the influence of doubt. The title track’s cautious optimism is predicated on uncertainty. It’s refreshingly honest.

And though meaty questions rarely divulge their answers, it’s in the pondering that this album earns each and every listen.

—Julian Ring

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