{"id":76680,"date":"2026-11-08T15:29:36","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T15:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/ben-labat-former-singer-of-the-terms-goes-folky-on-new-solo-album\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T15:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T15:29:36","slug":"ben-labat-former-singer-of-the-terms-goes-folky-on-new-solo-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/ben-labat-former-singer-of-the-terms-goes-folky-on-new-solo-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Labat, Former Singer of the Terms, Goes Folky on New Solo Album"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tBen Labat<\/a> has been on the verge of stardom. He had a major-label deal with Capitol Records, and his music has been featured in zeitgeist television shows from The Real World<\/em> to Jersey Shore<\/em>. But after a career that spans nearly three decades, the Louisiana native has found himself most comfortable when he\u2019s processing his own life through writing and singing folk-rock tunes.<\/p>\n

\n\tLabat says that the more music \u2014\u00a0aided by artificial intelligence and technology \u2014\u00a0has moved away from simple approaches to lyrics and melodies, the more he\u2019s been drawn back to them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI like the reverse of AI and the use of technology, and all the wild and crazy things you can do with it in film and writing and graphic design and music\u201d Labat tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cIt felt good to just be me and an acoustic guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Labat did find at least some inspiration in science for his new album Echolocationism<\/em>. A one-time physics teacher, he\u2019s fascinated by the sonar-like senses that marine animals like dolphins use to navigate the open ocean \u2014\u00a0called \u201cecholocation\u201d (hence the title of his album). Echolocationism<\/em> is his seventh studio LP since 2006, and he wrote 10 of the 11 tracks himself. Only a cover of Harry Styles\u2019 hit \u201cMatilda,\u201d which Labat says is his daughter\u2019s favorite song, keeps the album from being entirely original material.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe recorded Echolocationism<\/em> himself, playing a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar that his grandfather once owned. The guitar had been sold for a time, but Labat bought it back and was compelled to build an album around it. \u201cI started digging through the songs that never made it to a full-band cut, and then they just kind of all came together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe album opens with \u201cSet a New Course,\u201d which Labat delivers in a gravelly Louisiana drawl over that very acoustic guitar. You can hear echoes of Springsteen\u2019s best stripped-down material in the melody, especially when Labat laments, \u201cLife tuned me up and played me like a song\/so I set a new course.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s really about finding that new path,\u201d Labat says. \u201cWhether it\u2019s a job or a relationship, moving to a new city, having children. I\u2019m trying to be a parent and explain that things are not always gonna go your way. You\u2019re gonna have to embrace the change, and sometimes, things are gonna happen and you won\u2019t be the same. The way you look at things and how you react will be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

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