Charlotte Rose Benjamin Releases Debut Album 'DREAMTINA'

Today, Brooklyn-based artist Charlotte Rose Benjamin self-released her debut album Dreamtina. Taking influence from the likes of Liz Phair, Sheryl Crow and Courtney Barnett, Benjamin pairs roaring guitars with blunt and honest lyrics about love and heartache and the blurred line in between. Benjamin has also released a music video for her single "Louis."

The Aquarian Weekly premiered the accompanying music video, calling Benjamin "a musically inclined long-lost Olsen twin down to her stylish New Yorker ways, 'main character energy' convertible rides from dawn to dusk, and cigarette in hand." To celebrate her debut album, Benjamin will play a special show at Baby's All Right in Brooklyn on April 24th. Tickets are available here.

"My straight male friend had this running joke where he would refer to hot neighborhood girls as 'Tina's,'" says Benjamin, explaining the inspiration behind the album's title. "'Coffeeshop-Tina' was the cute girl who worked at the coffee shop, a girl literally riding by on a bike was 'BLT (Bike Lane Tina).' 'Dream-Tina' obviously meant dream girl,'' she continues.

"The 'Dreamtina' concept is kind of a study on wanting to be desirable. I've never felt like the cool girl at the party and as far as I'm concerned, romantic love is the most important and exciting thing in the entire world. I still feel like a teenager in that way."

For her debut album, Benjamin chose to go without a label, which, she says, "is an amazing amount of work and money, but I made absolutely no compromises and I'm prouder of it than anything I've ever done before."

Self produced alongside her bandmates, Nardo Ochoa, Matti Dunietz and Zoe Zeeman, the album was funded by Benjamin's day-job working as a model in New York. Under the Radar broke the news of the album in February, premiering the pyromaniac-puppet-show video for her song "Satisfied," calling the song "an irresistible power pop hook, paired with instantly quotable lyrics." Vanyaland reviewed her single "Slot Machine," simply calling it "a catchy ass song."

The album's singles have received praise from Clout Magazine, God Is In The TV, We All Want Someone to Shout For and more. Early singles "deep cut" and "Cumbie's Parking Lot" were released last year and spent more than 10 weeks featured on Spotify's Fresh Finds: Indie playlist. Most recently, Benjamin played alongside Japanese Breakfast and Weyes Blood as part of The Unfinished Fest at SXSW.

Listen to the new album here:

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