Ben Talmi on New Album, Influences, and… by Uinterview

Ben Talmi is a musician, plain and simple. Growing up, Talmi was inundated with classical music and learned how to play the violin. By the time he was a young teen, he was introduced to the world of pop and MTV. Now, living in some strange brew of the two, Talmi has released his newest album, My Art of Almost.

Talmi recently sat down with uInterview to discuss the new album, its influences, and his lifelong love of music.

My Art of Almost, Talmi says, comes a from a place of honest self-reflection, at least in relation to his creative process.

“[The album is] kind of a self analysis of the artistic process,” Talmi told uInterview. “For me, it was very much two years of being in my studio and really only focusing on the creative process and nothing else. So naturally, what I was writing was just about that.”

The title of the album comes from a fairly similar place. “The title … comes from that very process of writing, making something, putting it out into the world, seeing it kind of fail, and then doing it all over again.”

Through the failure, Talmi continues to make music. It is something he always had done.

“[I’ve made] music from a very young age,” Talmi said. “I really have never done anything else with my life.”

It started first with the classical music he listened to and played as a young child and then with pop music he listened to as a teen.

“[My sound] is really the result of growing up listening to only classical music in the household and not really knowing about the world of pop, and then being ten years old in 1999, the peak of the music industry and TRL was beamed into my head,” said Talmi.

Less than a month removed from the release of his album, Talmi promises to continue to create, no matter what.

About his dedication to music, he said with a smile, “I will never stop.”

My Art of Almost is available on all major music platforms.

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Article by Jacob Kaye

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Q: How would you describe your new album? -

It's really, kind of a self analysis of the artistic process. For me, it was very much two years of being in my studio and really only focusing on the creative process and nothing else so, naturally, what I was writing about was just that. And the title, "My Art of Almost," comes from that very process of writing, making something, putting it out into the world, seeing it kind of fail, and then doing it all over again.

User
Q: Do you have a favorite track from the album? -

There's a track on there called "Brighter in the Past," it's a deeper cut but I think its a sign of where things are going to go for me. It's more in kind of the arranged, baroque, leaning into the world of Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith, kind of stuff. I wrote it as, cello, flute, clarinet, and voice to begin with and thought it was just going to be this kind of experimental thing and it turned out to be just a pop song.

User
Q: How would you describe your sound? -

I wouldn't describe my sound. But, if I had to, it is really the result of growing up listening to only classical music in the household and not really knowing about the world of pop, and then being ten years old in 1999, the peak of the music industry and TRL was beamed into my head. All of a sudden the world of major label pop artists was everything to me. So I somehow fall in between a very strict musical education and the biggest pop of all time, I think.

User
Q: Did you do anything professionally before pursuing music? -

Music from a very young age, I really have never done anything else with my life. I've studied music, I've played violin from when I was three-years-old, naturally got into to guitar and composition as I went into college, and have played in bands and made records since I was 13 or 14 years old, and really have been doing that ever since. And I will never stop.