After a seven-year hiatus, Benjamin Booker is back with a powerful new single, “Same Kind of Lonely,” and the announcement of his highly anticipated album Lower, set for release on January 24, 2025, via Fire Next Time Records and Thirty Tigers. Accompanying the single is a striking music video that explores themes of beauty and distortion in the natural world, co-directed by Booker and Gerry Cisneros, according to a press release.
The single showcases Booker’s evolution as an artist, blending dream pop, lo-fi hip hop and indie rock with experimental elements. “Same Kind of Lonely” features cascading fuzz guitars and an atmospheric bridge, punctuated by a chilling audio sample of gunfire, juxtaposed with the sound of Booker’s daughter laughing. The decision to include such contrasting sounds was intentional, reflecting the unexpected horrors and joys of life.
“I was thinking a lot about existence and the natural world—how things that start off so beautiful are often twisted into something unsettling or sinister,” Booker explained. “Maybe the disconnect between the natural state of things and the modified state of things is the source of a lot of pain, suffering, and loneliness in the world.”
The accompanying video mirrors these ideas through surreal, manipulated imagery—algae morphing into digital needles, eyes appearing in trees—all inspired by Haitian Vodou ceremonies, Paul Gauguin’s paintings and films like A Field in England and Andrei Tarkovsky’s works.
Co-produced with underground hip-hop producer Kenny Segal (known for collaborations with Armand Hammer and billy woods), Lower marks a departure from Booker’s previous work. While his earlier albums leaned into garage rock and 70s glam influences, Lower introduces a grittier, more experimental sound. Booker credits Segal with helping him achieve the sonic vision he had been chasing for years.
“Kenny was the missing piece I needed—he fills in all of my gaps,” Booker shared. “I don’t know what I’ll do next, but if I can imagine it, I can do it now.”
The album features 11 tracks that explore themes of isolation, race, anger and spirituality:
- Black Opps
- LWA in the Trailer Park
- Pompeii Statues
- Slow Dance in a Gay Bar
- Speaking with the Dead
- Rebecca Latimer Felton Takes a BBC
- New World
- Same Kind of Lonely
- Show and Tell
- Heavy on My Mind
- Hope for the Night
In support of Lower, Booker will embark on a North American tour beginning February 2, 2025, in San Diego, CA. The tour includes stops in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and Brooklyn, with producer Kenny Segal joining as a supporting act.
Photo credit: Owen Ela
Leave a Comment