Ben Azevedo of The Camaraderie stopped by Live and Local this week, with the new EP “Permanent Things” due out on Friday – their first release in 13 years.
Listen to the EP and purchase it on Bandcamp.
The songs that comprise “Permanent Things” began to emerge in 2017, but it took Azevedo seven years to bring them to completion. (“I like to describe my songwriting process as ‘glacially slow,'” he jokes.)
This time, Azevedo says he tried a different writing approach. “Most of the time I’ve noodled with the guitar and my voice until something starts to come together,” he says, “(but) for this, I really tried to focus on the lyrics first and then try to compose music around that.”
Follow Ben Azevedo on Instagram.
The resulting EP is already drawing acclaim, particularly for lead single “Weight To Your Heart” – which Azevedo says wasn’t even his first choice to release as a single. “I brought on a team of people to help me,” he says – hence the band name “The Camaraderie” – “and right off the bat, everybody pointed at (Weight To Your Heart) and said, ‘that’s the one.'”
But “Weight To Your Heart” is only the entry point to a stellar collection of six tracks – songs that represent seven years of sustained work, but also one specific moment in time.
“I had this idea (that) I wanted this to be real in the world, a ‘permanent thing,'” Azevedo says. “And then I just got to thinking about how impermanent everything is. So (the title) is almost ironic, it’s almost sarcastic: none of it matters anyway…
“But I find relief and joy in that. I call it optimistic nihilism: none of it matters, so everything is important. And we should give everything our full attention.”
The full EP releases on Friday, May 10 – and then on Saturday, May 11, Azevedo will celebrate with a listening party at Yours Durham on Gregson Street, starting at 8 p.m.
Click here for details about the listening party, which is free and open to everyone.
As for the future: “I’m hoping that I can be a little more diligent about writing,” Azevedo says. “That’s always the dream. And continue putting out music – a little more regularly than every seven to ten years. But we’ll see what happens: you know, life has a way of swerving on you.”
Ben Azevedo of The Camaraderie stopped by Live & Local and played three songs: “Weight To Your Heart,” “TFW Every Song Is About You,” and “Needs & Wants.” Listen:
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