Benben Releases New Single 'Endless Summer'

NYC-based artist/animator/filmmaker/producer, and self-described “gnome rocker” Ben Wigler, who makes music under the moniker BenBen, has released a new single and video, “Endless Summer.” The song is from his forthcoming debut full-length LP, Sincere Gifts, co-produced by Wigler and Jeni Magana (Mitski), out December 8th via Perpetual Doom Records.   

“On this vibrant summer song, albeit released during winter, BenBen channels his love of radio-ready rock into a crowd-pleasing package,” said Chorus.fm in their premiere. “Endless Summer” was co-written with Wigler's lifelong friend, James Byron Schoen, with whom he still makes music in the storied progressive metal band Edensong. The pair first played around with the melody for the chorus when they were only six years old.  

“This song, which features the stunning vocals and violin of Camellia Hartman (Conor Oberst/Skullkrusher) is about youth, about being a more mature guy and trying (failing?) to imagine what it's like to be young, about obsession with getting first moments right and the fear and elation of being a shy person who is finally seen for who they are,” BenBen told Chorus.fm. “It's a playful, loving homage to the kinds of ‘songs of the summer' that blast on the radio (not many of them feature the West African Kora) and infect you with their incessant hooks and uncomplicated energy.”  

“Endless Summer” follows “Old Magic,” single and video “Clouded Head,” directed and animated by artist Elia Pelligrini, about the seductiveness of addiction, and how difficult it is to escape a beautiful trap, and the album's lead single and video, "Color Clouds," also directed by Pellegrini.

Previously the lead singer of bands Arizona and New Beard, both critically acclaimed purveyors of innovative indie art rock, Wigler is nervous but excited to step out on his own as BenBen. Returning from a long hiatus from releasing music, and very much still flying under the radar, BenBen's new music represents a singular vision from an artist free of inhibitions and at the peak of his craft.

BenBen's music effortlessly merges complex arrangements with melodies that beam, laser-like, into the listener's brain, surrounded by harmonies that can be described, without any exaggeration, as angelic.   Nearly each of the 14 songs that compose Sincere Gifts is like a little exotic stone forged spontaneously out of moments of trauma and tribulation but imbued with the infectiously ecstatic energy that defines BenBen as a performer and personality.

This is music for those extroverted introverts out there, the people who dream big but are shy, and the people who seem loud and proud, but need a quiet sanctuary to retreat to.   While on hiatus, BenBen maintained his long musical friendship and off-and-on collaboration with indie-folk enchantress Samantha Crain, co-writing the single ‘Garden Dove' for her acclaimed 2020 album "A Small Death."

With his previous brands, BenBen has worked with a wide array of artists ranging from the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile to Band of Horses and Swedish psychedelic legend Gustav Ejstes of Dungen. Be sure to follow BenBen at the links below for all the latest news and updates.