Golden boy strikes out on his own

By EMILY WATT

If today was Ben King's perfect day, he would have woken up on Great Barrier Island and would be spending the day swimming, sleeping, and making icecream, before playing a gig this evening.

"There's no better way to end a day than playing a gig," he says.

Instead, the Auckland singer-songwriter and Goldenhorse guitarist is sitting in a sunny downtown cafe, eating a large plate of fresh fruit and looking shaggy, but chipper. He says the cheery visage is not because he is about to launch his debut solo album, but because he has just tried online banking for the first time.

The cyber transaction went smoothly, he thinks, and so although today doesn't quite have the components of his perfect day, it seems to be going pretty well.

But on the subject of his self-titled solo offering his ebullience is tinged with trepidation. "I'm actually terrified about releasing this record. It's been either in my head or in the recording studio - basically in very private places - for a really long time and suddenly I'm going to stick it out there and say to everybody, 'Hey, what do you think?' It's quite a lot to take. In the end, I can handle it because I have a lot of faith in this record, but it's pretty intense."

The admission of nerves seems surprising from a musician such as King, who has toured with Bic Runga and Dave Dobbyn, and gone through the first album angst with Auckland band Goldenhorse.

"It either teaches you to go and hang yourself or it teaches you to be really strong and really know what it is that is important to you about what you're doing."

He's been working on the solo project more than four years. There's an element of luck that he did music. He studied psychology at university, but in his last year he realised that he didn't really enjoy it.

"It was actually quite fortuitous that I had something that I didn't want to do. It pushed me into doing music, because I may not have done it otherwise."

It was also thanks to the stars that he finished the album at all - at least that's what he says. When asked his star sign, (because he's the sort of amiable chap you can ask that sort of question), he admits to displaying some typical Scorpio traits.

"I think 'perfectionist' is a nice way of putting it. I'm sort of one-track-minded, almost. I dwell on things. But it's a good thing, it works well for me, because if I wasn't a dweller, I'd probably never get something like this record finished."

Launching two debut albums in two years suggests that he has managed some multi-tasking. For Goldenhorse is by no means dormant, and later this afternoon they are going back into the studio to begin recording their second album.

Has it been a struggle, working on two projects simultaneously?

"It's been quite confusing, knowing where to put my energy, and it ended up being with Goldenhorse in a way because this record was a backburner kind of project. Now obviously this has come to the fore and it's going to be important."

He doesn't believe the two projects conflict. King doesn't write the songs for Goldenhorse, and he believes the songwriting is the main difference between the two records, although he admits that his Goldenhorse bandmates, songwriters Kirsten Morelle and Geoff Maddock, have probably influenced his style.

King says influences do play a big part in writing songs, and describes the process of writing music as like a sausage machine. The music that a songwriter listens to enters one end, goes through various filters, and comes out the other as new music.

Doesn't this imply that pop music lacks originality? "I'm sort of deterministic like that. I don't think there are a hell of a lot of incredibly original ideas. Music is constantly referring back to past times. But it's important to have your own slant on things."

He says he is conscious of who he listens to. This morning it was Dinosaur Jr, the Motels and the 70s BBC production War of the Worlds. "That's my favourite record of all time. It's pop music with darkness behind it. It's a really potent thing." There might also be some influences from the brothers Finn, for the album includes a cover of Split Enz's One Step Ahead.

Also, among the collection of bittersweet pop songs big on Goldenhorse-esque string arrangements are some classic summery melodies, simple on the first hearing, but songs whose detailed arrangements and shadowed moods reward further attention.

The simplicity is a calculated thing, and in an earlier interview King said: "When you're playing with guitars it pays not to be too clever, we're making music not art." Does he still believe this?

"For sure. The song is absolutely the most important thing. That's what it's all for. Because if the song's not good, in the end trickery, cleverness, and experimentation don't really add up to much."

So the song is the thing, and his simple folksy offerings seem destined to please. His insouciant single No Ordinary Day, featuring King bouncing on a trampoline in the video clip, has been getting plenty of screentime.

When I asked about his upcoming release at a music shop in town, I was told many others had made inquiries.

He is sweetly surprised. "Really? Oh, that's great. I've got no concept of this. Forever more I'm probably going to feel like nobody knows my record because it's always been that way, and because Goldenhorse, at the stage that it's at, tends to overshadow what I'm doing. That's fine. It will find its way."

On CD

* Who: Ben King, Goldenhorse guitarist and singer-songwriter

* What: Debut solo album Ben King

* When: Released on Monday Nov 17