The Benjamin Report

3 of my favorite songs to be released (in album form, at least) this year.

w-w-w-w-w – hemlocke springs

The theme is child marriage. Hard to think of a more appropriate theme for the politics of 2026 so far, occupied as we are with the Epstein files and all its ensuing dramas. One of the most poignant thoughts that occurred to me with the song is that this escapade of tortured media deviance (I understand that’s an odd way of describing the political coverage) is ultimately inescapable. As I’ve grown older I’ve questioned consistently day-to-day: why can’t I ever seem to shun my attention to the “news”?Whether I’m playing audience to the “news” or not, my opinions on such matters tend to always rise to the fore in situations that otherwise would have no part in the game.

There’s a remarkable quality to the refrain here (the “I want your love” spoken rather than sung) that realizes the inherent emptiness of words alone. The anchoring substance to spoken words are only known to the speaker. As hemlocke springs would rather kill herself than say those words, she still says them quite a lot in the four-and-a-half minutes of the song. She has the simultaneous recognition of the compulsion to make such empty promises due to her circumstance, and the opposition within her on the matter.

She would rather kill herself than mean it, rather dying in one state-of-mind than ever letting herself give way to the subservient state-of-mind demanded of her situation. A battle everyone engages in just by the act of living today. To live is to change repeatedly in perpetuity until death closes you out; one can say that because of this we kill ourselves by each second, and at the same time we are reborn to kill again. That’s a philosophy, the song is a truth. And a real angering one at that.

So Wrong – Sego

The theme is two guitars trying to agree on a melody, but losing it at the cadence. This is a song I would be obsessed with in high school. It’s got a grimy nineties feel to it, a specific feel that I adored back then (and still do to this day, obviously, seeing how it’s included here). Not to get too distracted on this though: this is guitar music at a time when guitars are no longer the sovereign instrument of western popular music.

Sego has also been a favorite band of mine for awhile. They tend to make very fun—even danceable—rock music with a frontman that doesn’t always sound like he’s having the best time. Upon reflection, he doesn’t need to, because I am! This dual-role of ours is especially pronounced here when the chorus reaches its apotheosis in the line: “Holding hands in the ashes.” The main through-line of the song in its maddening diorama is that things can’t be “so wrong” because we’re still alive.

We throw our heads around like couch-surfing philosophers throughout the track, defining life in weird contradictory ways and not always understanding what it is that we’re saying. Yet there’s not much to worry about here, because at the end of the day the song IS a bop.

If you’ve noticed, I’ve included myself as a member of the artist in these past few statements. And if you have any wonder as to why I would do that, the answer is simple: I just feel so welcome.

Summer Affair – Mary Middlefield

The theme is it’s a summer affair. This song came out last year, the album (“Will You Take Me As I Am?”) came out two weeks ago. Not that that is entirely relevant but for this confession: this was my most listened to song last year. I listened to it once and thought: “Holy shit, I love this!” And I listened to it again, and again, and again and again and again. It’s just so catchy, and tightly composed, and at such a perfect length that it practically demands to be heard again and again.

It’s a bit of an outlier for the album, which is densely layered and swerves from catchy alt-rock to operatic balladry (another favorite is “Untitled Love Song” where Maria’s vocals are drenched in reverb and her lyrics are pointed to a degree that feels remarkably diaristic, the song draws you in and yet pushes you away at the same time). But I don’t mean to talk about the album beyond the obvious, you should just listen to it.

Summer Affair, by its own accord, is a simple composition that evokes the feeling of ephemeral romantic joy. The idea is of a relationship that forms and explodes into a deep love with sexual excitement, but sustains itself only for the summer and then dissipates with realization that the love is only skin-thick. What catches me off-guard is that I don’t really know if this is supposed to be sad?

Or rather, I don’t know if I’m supposed to feel much of anything in one way or the other. It seems beside the point to classify it by any emotion. The song is called Summer Affair, the point is in the moments we’re here listening to it. And that’s why we play it back again and again and again and…

If you’ve noticed, I’ve included your interest in union with mine. And if you have any wonder as to why I would do that, the answer is simple: that’s on you, not me.