Ben Stitt - In the Dawn of My Days

Ben Stitt 

​In the Dawn of My Days
self-released; 2018

​4.1 out of 5 - TOP ALBUM

By Matt Jensen

Life can have insignificant moments that become significant. I’ll give you an example. In 2005 I was twenty-four years old walking to my tiny studio apartment after a class I was taking in college. There was nothing significant about this delightfully sunny afternoon but I made a bookmark in my head. Remember this. You are young, the future is full of possibilities and there is no real turning back after becoming an adult and all the responsibilities that come come along with it. Now I’m thirty-seven and that day has stuck with me.

The reason I bring this up is because Ben Stitt created a musical bookmark to signify this change. He explains In the Dawn of My Days which is his debut EP that, “on this EP I'm trying to understand and comprehend the transition from being a carefree child and teenager into an adult, and how one of the most pivotal events during that period of time, falling in love for the first time, will affect the person you will end up being.”

Stitt recently graduated Berklee College of music in 2017 with his studies focusing on  songwriting and film scoring (he is currently working with an Emmy award winning film maker). It seems he paid attention in school because the EP is very well written and contains exceptional sound design.

Up first is “Intro” which combines multiple types of pads. It’s epic and subtle all at the same time. Above all else the emotional buttons it pushes upon are numerous. He avoids overly melodramatic strings and grandiose feelings and instead puts you in a place of ambiguity.

Up next is “Dawn” which you can make some comparison to Bon Iver. It’s ethereal, ephemeral and majestic. Similar to the opening track he doesn't push too hard on any one emotion which is a refined skill that I wish I heard more of from musicians.

I felt “Interlude” should not have been called “Interlude” because the piece was too good to be labeled as such. The track boils with wonder but is interwoven with apprehension, flickering thoughts and fleeting moments of clarity. It’s the detail. Something I can’t emphasize enough that makes a track like this work so well.

Vocals and a little more forward moving energy are interjected into “Fade.” Stitt ends with “Outro” which is an ambient track where the vocals aren’t separate from the music.

​Stitt is on the right track with this impressive debut. His music doesn't ever feel like it comes close to a complete understanding of the changing process of life and nor should it. All of us are thrust into consciousness without an invitation and at our most realized we can take time to appreciate the wonder, and navigate through it to the best of our ability but we will fail to fully grasp its inherent meaning. That’s ok and that’s why creative outlets like music can connect us through shared experiences.

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