Ben Helmut John

A raw edged guitarist poet, crafting delicate songs that chase classical and world music melodies, that hint at time spent under foriegn skies. A voice that floats a deep hymn to the guitars serenade. Intimate movements of words and music. "A little later in the middle of the evening's entertainment came Ben Cartwright, whose deeply atmospheric songs provided the perfect counterpoint to the earlier set. Forget the OC, Cartwright's music feels like it could appear in a foriegn art house movie, at that particular moment the director wants to envoke 'existential despair'. I found myself swept up in it without noticing, when all of a sudden a key change of an inflection of Cartwright's voice would really hit me. Well worth a listen. " January 2008 , Sandman Magazine. Giant Hit Discotheque Albums:"Ben is probably the most interesting singer songwriter I've ever heard. His lyrics are so poetic that they stand up equally well on their own as they do with musical accompaniment and the music perfectly marries the intellectualism of classical guitar with the raw edge of folk. This music is avant garde without the pretensions and folk without the cliché." December 2007. King Mojo of Sheffield Presents: "Musical impressionism guitarism poet Jim Morrison with acoustic guitar" "Ben, poet, musician. A gifted guitarist, sounding like a pianist. Influenced by a staggering array of poets, painters and composers, he carves his own space, passionate music and words, and was recently described as musical impressionism, more romanticism i'd say. 'Baudelaire fronting a hungarian gypsy folk band, pulling your soul from a guitar. Masterful acoustic rootsy blues, folk and classical passions." Febuary 2008. A raw edged guitarist poet. Artistic, poetic, musical, delicate, intimate,minimalist.