Ben Jelen preview

Ben Jelen
Martyrs, Chicago
Sunday, April 6, 2008

Scottish-born singer-songwriter Ben Jelen can’t decide whether he wants to be a musician or save the world. He’s determined to try his hand at both, but listening to his sophomore effort, Ex-Sensitive (Custard), one wonders if he’s stretching himself too thin.

According to Jelen’s bio, he has worked with the National Resources Defense Council, Rock The Vote, Live For Darfur, and recently established his own organization, the Ben Jelen Foundation For The Environment. Bono in the making?

With Linda Perry sitting in the producer’s chair and sharing songwriting credits on half of the album’s 13 tracks, Ex-Sensitive pleasantly rolls along, but fails to match the depth of Jelen’s ideas. It’s hard for the message of a world in crisis to make a dent when the songs mirror a gooey Goo Goo Dolls love ballad.

“Pulse” breaks away from the pack with a Celtic fiddle interlude in the vein of the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up To Boston,” albeit The Lite, 93.9 WLIT-FM, version and screams “use me as the soundtrack to your Myspace photograph collage.” The title track tries to recreate the bombast and frivolity of The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” while “Papa, Here I Go,” “Vulnerable,” and “Mr. Philosopher” run into each other without much thought. Jelen’s voice easily reaches a comfortable falsetto, but so does David Archuleta’s week after week on “American Idol.”

Here’s looking ahead to that album.

Standard Of Living and The Heyday open.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly