Lazarus Benson – Beneath The Surface

Lazarus Benson – Beneath The Surface – EP Review

Well what do you know…after all this time we’ve spent checking out the music of Lazarus Benson since we started listening in 2021, this is apparently the first time he’s released an EP!  What a world eh?  Back in my day it was all albums and EPs of course, but now that we’re living in the age of constant content, singles have become the more prevalent reality for how music gets released.  Don’t get me wrong, I get why that would be the case, but hopefully no one out there is actively objecting against MORE music, right?  Has anyone looked at an album or an EP from their favorite artist or band and said, thanks but no thanks?  I like my music served in the tiniest of bites for better audible digestion?  Okay, I’ll listen to one or two of the songs on the record, but I’ll save the rest for a rainy day?  If you know anybody that has said something similar to that stuff, please do your due diligence and report their criminal activity.  MORE music is ALWAYS a great thing…or at the very least, the math says it should be!

As I listened to “Mindreader,” the opening track from Lazarus Benson’s debut EP called Beneath The Surface, my first thoughts were mainly about how he is so incredibly dialed into the sound he wants to create.  Like, I’m sure for some other folks out there that aren’t familiar with his name yet, they might push play and find something they totally weren’t expecting to find.  For me, five some-odd years into listening to LB’s music, I feel like I know exactly what to expect – he just does it better than he used to is all.  Lazarus is a clear-cut case of an artist that makes the music they love to listen to, and he never feels compelled to deviate from that plan.  Good on him!  I might advocate for variety and diversity and all that kind of stuff, because I know the freedom that can be found in trying new things and how that helps an artist grow in whatever kind of music they wanna make – but by the same token, the phrase ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ is around for a reason.  When you’re constantly focused on staying in your lane like Benson has been from the moment we first stumbled onto his music way back when, then you end up continually refining your sound & style until it’s as sharp as it can be.  “Mindreader” is the kind of song that speaks strongly on behalf of the efforts he’s been putting in throughout the years.  The bars in the verses come through pretty good…minor metering issues that he could easily clean up a little bit more instead of trying to fight the syllables into the right timing perhaps, but I’m not hearing anything that’s too detrimental.  Plus, the main hook in the chorus came out fantastic for the guy, and the breakdown does a lot for the dynamics of “Mindreader” as it plays on.  I might have a personal preference here & there for what I’d wanna hear from the guy, but I’m not really the audience – for the kind of music he was looking to create, “Mindreader” is an excellent example of how he can pull it off.

Yeah…I mean…it’s all pretty much what I would have expected to find.  I could make similar comments about “Know My Name” as I did with “Mindreader” and they’d basically all apply in the same way.  I still hear the spots where LB is rushing a little bit to make the deadline with how many syllables he wants to pack into a line of his verses, and I still feel like the chorus/hooks are generally what generates the most appeal within his music.  He’s a capable rapper; he’s a better singer…I don’t know that I’m ever going to hear the guy in a different light, you know what I mean?  I’m always interested in the choices people make…like, I think life as an artist would be remarkably easy for Benson if he was primarily a singer, rather than being primarily a rapper.  If he flipped the script and was more Chester instead of Mike, I think this dude would be totally on easy street.  But what would that do to his own level of enjoyment in making music, right?  It wouldn’t be as interesting to him, and honestly, that matters.  I mean, trust me when I tell ya, when people lose interest, the music stops getting made…it’s pretty straightforward.  So if the man wants to rap, let’em rap I say…but of course, you get the critics and metering hawks on ya as a result.  I’ve been listening to Rap & Hip-Hop for longer than the man has probably been alive for – it ain’t unreasonable to point out the fact he’s still got space to sharpen his skills in that area, especially when you consider that most artists do!  He’s on point for the most part, and obviously that’s a good thing.  Plus, while I’ve pointed out that he can be speeding like a demon to get to the spots that he needs to and we can sense that as listeners – I haven’t been telling you that he doesn’t get there.  He does.  He gets to the spots he needs to get to, which is crucial…but there’s a difference between getting there in a natural rhythm and speed, versus hustling your ass off to get there.  A syllable or two less and maybe life is easier for him, you feel me?  Maybe he adds some melody to those words and sings one or two of’em instead of the choppy quick one-syllable words coming at your like a fury of fists – maybe that gives him more flexibility?  He’s got options…it’s just a matter of whether or not he’s interested in exploring them.  “Know My Name” has a great hook at the center of its chorus, and I really like what I hear there.  LB’s lyricism on this cut is what you’d expect from him as a longtime listener…the struggle, the concept of beating the odds, the rising above the rest…like I was saying, he’s really defined himself as an artist in a stoic way that most don’t, but by that same token, you always know what you’ll get with Lazarus’ music.

On the positive side of the scenario, I feel like I’d listen to “Mindreader” and “Know My Name” – these are pretty strong additions to the Lazarus Benson catalog.  As for “Pulling Me Beneath,” I feel like I’m leaning more towards this one being a B-side to me.  Quality-wise in terms of the sound, he’s still on solid ground…it just feels like songwriting-wise “Pulling Me Beneath” doesn’t quite have the X-factor that the songs before it have had…it’s missing that identifiable spark & reason we won’t be able to resist returning to it for another listen.  I listen to “Pulling Me Beneath” and I think to myself, ‘okay, good tune,’ and I don’t feel like I’m going to have a different reaction to it on the hundredth time I’d hear it than the same one I had on my very first spin.  I do think it’s a good example of how Lazarus is able to use the dynamics of a song to his advantage though…the way he uses the power of the music surging forward, or mellowing out when “Pulling Me Beneath” gets a bit more chill at times…he knows how to use his space the right way in terms of his energy on the mic.  At 2:04 in length, “Pulling Me Beneath” doesn’t seem to hide the fact that it’s a case of it is what it is…and from my perspective, at that length it doesn’t really need to do more anyhow.  When it comes right down to it, “Pulling Me Beneath” leans pretty heavy into its hooks – ultimately, that’s a good thing in terms of playing to Benson’s strengths, but on the flipside of the coin, you feel the repetition of this track more in this shorter space.  Again, it’s another interesting choice that Lazarus makes…as a rapper, you’d have to assume that he prides himself on his lyricism, at least to a degree – yet every chorus the guy writes, he practically reduces the hooks down to a handful of words, or even just one word in many cases.  Someone has told him he’s allowed to flex his lyricism in those spots too right?  Think of it this way…we never really feel the weight of repetition if you do something different with it.  Keeping the melodic pattern the same, and using different words, can make a whole world of difference to the longevity of a song.  If you’re absolutely certain you’ve got an irresistible hook that can hold up on repeat, then hey, go with it – repetition can be your best friend in those moments…but unless you’re 100% sure, it’s probably best to switch things up to keep people listening.  I like what I hear on “Pulling Me Beneath” enough, but I’m not hearing any part that would have me ranting and raving about it I suppose.  It’s consistent with the material that surrounds it and feels cohesive on the same record, and sometimes that’s really all that we can ask for.

From what I’ve read, Alex Asch and Dirk Dugan lent a hand in producing/mixing/mastering this EP with Lazarus, and I think that’s probably worked out fairly well overall.  There are a lot of fine details to be admired in the mix throughout the bulk of the material when it comes right down to it, and I dig that.  On the other side of the coin, Beneath The Surface is a little beat-heavy as well…but what else can we say about that – Benson likes a LARGE, highly pronounced beat in his music…that’s kind of always been a staple of the guy’s sound.  I might personally advocate for dialing it down a notch or two on the studio boards so that the rest of those fine details can be appreciated more by the average everyday listeners out there…but I’m just one guy with an opinion.  I’m a little bit tossed up over “Better Than The Lies” – I probably like it a bit more than “Pulling Me Beneath” and still feel like it’s not quite at the level of the first two tracks on the EP.  By the fourth track on a record that’s following a similar recipe, this is where I’m personally getting restless, but I’d be the first to tell you I’m not everyone.  If you’re out there looking for a Rap/Rock record that you can rely on to provide consistency, then Beneath The Surface should be something you’re stoked to discover.  Again, what I want isn’t necessarily what Benson is going to want, but I can promise you there’s at least a little bit of wisdom in my words here somewhere.  Diversifying his word selection to include more complex words that have interesting textures to them and different ways they can be bent to express them differently can be a huge game changer.  Think of it like this – when you’ve got one syllable words, there’s very little you can do with them to make them stand out, so it just kind of feels like rat-a-tat-tat from verse to verse without having the kind of audible dynamics to work with in the words themselves.  From there, it’s just math…you’ve got a bar x-amount of space long, it fits a maximum of x-amount of syllables in total, and when you’re filling that space to its maximum capacity, everything starts to sound way too similar.  The hooks of Benson’s material are what are making these tracks memorable, “Better Than The Lies” included, which tells me he’s still got plenty of room to shake things up.  An entire song can be memorable – it doesn’t just have to be a piece of it.

What I do like is that Lazarus does sound professional and ready for this moment.  Sure we can examine this or that about songs under the microscope and we can pick things apart about whatever track we’re listening to – that’s our role as listeners, fans, and critics – but I think you’ve gotta hand it to the guy for sounding like he’s more confident and in control than he has been in the past.  “Drowning Under” might still lack a bit of the diversity and versatility we’ve been longing for, but in terms of the guy’s readiness and steadiness, I don’t think there’s much we can fault him on.  I’m well aware of how much music there is out there and how much competition there is…I know precisely how much it takes to stand out from the rest of all that’s out there, and all I ever do is try to help steer LB in a direction that’ll get him to that place he’s looking to go with his music, like I do with all the artists and bands that come my way.  I don’t know that there’s quite enough going on throughout “Drowning Under” to satisfy most people, but I do feel like this is one of the better examples of where repetition will likely work in his favor.  I only ever have the songs, EPs and albums I’m writing about for a short time before I’m reviewing them, but I feel like my gut is telling me that “Drowning Under” will continue to grow on me, thanks again to the main hook.  It’s funny…I mean…I talk a lot about how Benson could sharpen up his bars and such, but that’s all because I know that the rap is what is likely the most important to him.  If I was to simply comment on how great this guy is as a singer, we’d be having totally different conversations – the guy is aces when he sings, straight up, full stop.  Do I think he has even more potential in that arena too?  Absolutely!  Of course he does – he spends so much time on the rap part of his music, that if he flipped the script and started to focus on the singing parts, he’d grow tremendously in terms of what he’s capable of.  Like all muscles, the more you work’em out, the stronger you become.  Just so happens that Lazarus is naturally gifted when it comes to singing, so it’s like he doesn’t have to work that muscle out as much as he does with his bars…honestly, that’s a nice problem to have…he’s got the luxury of choice when it comes to what he does on the mic.  The performance he puts into “Drowning Under” is significantly strong all around, and arguably one of the most well balanced cuts on the EP in terms of the Rap and the Rock.

Look at it this way…you learn different things by doing things differently – it’s as simple as that.  Putting out an entire EP is going to teach Lazarus a different lesson than the ones he’s previous learned by dropping singles onto the internet.  In the context of a record that people are going to listen to from start to finish, diversity and versatility become crucial – and I think that Benson’s got some work to do in examining how the formula at the core of his songs is very, very similar.  It’s not the kind of thing that most people will notice over the course of releasing singles, but in the confines of an EP or an album, it’s definitely something we can all hear.  I suspect that’s going to make more than a few folks a bit restless, but the flipside of that coin is that if you do find youself liking or loving “Mindreader” at the start, there’s no reason as to why you won’t wanna stick with the EP all the way through to “Heartless” at the end.  It’s a strong finish…I think I’m still partial to the opening two tracks, but I’d likely put “Heartless” up there in the top three I suppose.  I dunno…I had a day or two in listening to this EP where I felt like “Drowning Under” could be my personal favorite, but I think when it comes to the masses, the other three I just cited likely have more universal appeal.  The execution is there…and I’m pretty satisfied with the majority of LB’s performances…material-wise, I think he’s still got a massive leap to make in his own artistic evolution that we haven’t heard yet, but in terms of mastering making the kind of music that he personally wants to create, I feel like he’s getting closer and closer to perfecting his own recipe.  Definitely not a bad effort for a debut EP – it’s listenable, it’s got highlight moments for Benson’s singing, many of which are right there in the finale throughout “Heartless,” but he’s put many into other songs throughout the record as well.  As always, I’m looking forward to where he goes with his music from here – with each release he puts out, he continues to learn more aspects of his craft and push the limits of what he can do, and I think it’s safe bet to assume that Lazarus Benson is always capable of leveling up from where he was the last time you listened as he searches for new ways to push his music forward.

You can find Beneath The Surface and its deluxe version listed for sale on LB’s site direct right here:

https://lazarusbenson.com/product/beneath-the-surface-by-lazarus-benson

Find out more about Lazarus Benson from the official pages below:

Main Site:  https://lazarusbenson.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LazarusBensonMusic

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/lazarusbenson

Multi-link:  https://linktr.ee/LazarusBenson

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