Special Benny have come together from the UK and Hong Kong to form this six-piece band which is made up of; Mat Baynton, Grace Cheung, Tom Corbett, Ben Gates, Rob Smoughton and Matt Turner. Although most of Special Benny studied music there is one member who keeps everyone’s spirits high, as he went to clown school and that is Matt.

Having previously called an end to Special Bunny, as the members were preoccupied with other commitments such as taking time out to work in Australia for a year, starting families and pursuing different careers within the media, they are now back together with a seriousness about them that you can’t ignore.

Toys is their debut album which draws on a variety of musical influences such as Tortoise, Jim O’Rourke, Sufjan Stevens, Battles, Frank Zappa and Steve Reich.

There is an air of elegance to this album mixed with some great guitar riffs. synths and good all-round melodies. Although not one of your regular sounding pop/rock bands Special Bunny definitely have a taste for this sound.

One of my favourite tracks on this album is ‘Croydon’, it’s chirpy and cheerful with brass and great percussion to accompany it.

It was definitely worth this band making a comeback and taking their music seriously. They are due to do some live dates later this year and I’m sure they will be great live.

7

Helena Rea