Ball of Wax 35 Songs: Robb Benson and the Shelk – “Twin Peaks”

I can’t claim to know the inspiration behind Robb Benson‘s spirit animal, the shelk (an elk with a shark’s head, obviously), but at least half of it makes perfect sense. Robb is one of the most prolific songwriters I’ve ever known; like the head half of a shelk, he doesn’t stop moving for a second. This January he self-released Seen Too Much, his second solo album under the name Robb Benson and the Shelk, mere months after the first. In addition to writing and releasing two solo albums in less than a year, he is also active in Stereo Embers, The Glass Notes, and The Great Um. And that’s just what he’s up to right now, never mind the prolific and impressive 15-odd years he’s been making music in our fair city.

“Twin Peaks” is that ever risky thing, a song about itself; a beautifully apologetic ode to a lover who (sort of) regrets time spent on other commitments (see above list of bands) and love songs unwritten. Robb sings “I’m sorry my music takes up so much time that I ignore what really should be your new love song; instead I come home and I complain, when I should just be happy to be back home with you again,” and partnered musicians across the globe nod and shake their heads in recognition. “Please know,” he sings for us all, “my heart still revolves around you.” Robb won’t be able to join us at the Ball of Wax 35 release show tomorrow at LoFi (I think one of his seventeen other bands has a gig elsewhere), but I might just get a boom box and hold it up over my head on stage to play this song for my wife everyone there, Dobler-style.

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