Belaver, the solo project of New York City-based songwriter Ben Godfrey, creates folk music with unusual stories—sometimes insightful, often irreverent, and always humorous and lyrically rich. This style continues in Belaver’s newest release, “70’s Adventure”, a love poem-cum-tragedy framed by childhood nostalgia.
A subdued, sometimes humorous ballad, “70’s Adventure” is the latest track to be released from the sophomore album of NYC-based singer-songwriter Belaver (aka B.E. Godfrey), Lain Prone. The album, out 22 October, is set to be structured like a novel; composed of tracks that act as thoughtful, reflective alt-folk chapters. This song’s official music video, directed by Erica Alexandria Silverman, follows the singer on a canoe trip down a fantasy river of the past.
Both the song and the video for “70’s Adventure” are the natural culmination of a decade of collaboration and friendship between Belaver (Ben Godfrey) and Robert Ellis, who met on the early 2000s Houston DIY scene – playing on each other’s records, touring in broken-down VW buses and producing shows.
In the spirit of musical family collaboration, Ellis produced the song (and Belaver’s forthcoming “Lain Prone” LP). Ellis’s partner, Erica Silverman (dir. Gregg Allman, Leon Bridges, Avril Lavigne, Plato III), directed the video, which stars Godfrey, canoeing through a hilarious and absurd pastiche of sepia-toned, backyard, green-screen magic.
Released as a pack of two flexi-postcard discs – the grooves printed into glossy cardboard stock, with Belaver playing on one disc and Ellis covering the song on the other.
This will be the first release from Niles City Records, a new concept by Ellis and producer, Josh Block (Leon Bridges, White Denim), that aims to bring to light exceptional but sometimes overlooked talent.
Like most Belaver songs, it’s light vs. dark: cynic-optimism or clear-eyed skepticism, gaining him comparisons to other paced and solemn wits like David Berman and Will Oldham.
