Benjamin R is Going Somewhere With The Other Side of Nowhere

It’s been some time since I have reviewed an artist that wasn’t submitted to the site (I think the last two might have been the Evergreen Terrace Review and A Day To Remember Review), but while surfing through some music I have had filed away for quite some time, I came across Benjamin R’s The Other Side of Nowhere and thought it deserved a write-up.

Here are some excerpts from Benjamin r’s bio, which can be found on the Benjamin r Website.

Benjamin r (aka Robert Selvaggio) is a singer/ songwriter originally from Tallahassee, Florida. He has spent most of his life with an equal fascination for both creating and recording music.

After spending most of the 90’s either playing in bands or doing solo/acoustic gigs in and around the southeast, Robert finally decided to take the plunge and purchase his own recording equipment in order to record/produce the band he was in at the time. “I knew a little about how it all worked so I wasn’t flying totally blind…It was a great experience. I think the record only sold 300 copies, but it did get a lot of attention for how it sounded.” As a result, calls started coming in asking if Robert was available to record other local bands around town. One thing led to another and after Robert produced a few demos that got national attention, he found himself working full time for some pretty big names…Finally in 2007, he made the decision to leave the comfort of the major label studio gigs and focus on producing his own record. He started going back through the many songs he had written over the years and chose 11 that he thought worked well together…After a few setbacks, including a broken wrist, which put things on hold for much of 2008, Robert has finally finished and released his first solo record “The Other Side of Nowhere” under the name Benjamin r.

The song topics range from feelings of hopelessness (‘Quit’) to hoping for someone to be the great equalizer in your life when things seem to be unraveling (‘Falling Apart’) to hope for a better tomorrow (‘Beautiful (Ugly Now’)).

The tempos of the songs also vary, so whether you are more a fan of the slower singer/songwriter types or more upbeat songs, you can find tracks you enjoy. ‘Beautiful (Ugly Now)’ is an example of the first, and ‘Falling Apart’ is a perfect example of the latter.

Like I have said in previous singer/songwriter reviews, like the Justin Black Review and Hot Streets Review, people who love this genre of music tend to like EVERYTHING they hear, even though most of it is so generic and doesn’t stand out at all.

Luckily for Benjamin r, he has enough originality to break out from the pack and provide something worth listening to with The Other Side of Nowhere.

“I do what I do. I sound the way I sound. I love melody. I don’t care about trends or getting on commercial radio. I only care about staying true to myself and writing the most honest music I know how.”

And that right there is one of the most honest things we’ve heard out of a musician’s mouth in quite some time.

For more information on Benjamin r, visit the Benjamin r Website.

Here is ‘Time is Running Out’, the eighth track on The Other Side of Nowhere:

All photos, music, and videos copyright of their respective owners. Used only for promotional purposes and to gain notoriety for the artists featured.
04132010