Ben Woods Announces NZ Tour + Shares 'Body Rhyme' Single / Video

Ben Woods is back with a vengeance! A weird, sexy vengeance by the name of 'Body Rhyme'. Although the Ōtautahi songwriter contributed to Barry: The Man Who Moves The Music back in December with 'Everything Flows', that single still felt deeply rooted in the world of his 2019 album PUT. 'Body Rhyme' is something exciting and new and I'm so into it. Recorded with Lyttelton production hot shot Ben Edwards, it's hypnotically cyclical, and the repeated guiro paired with Woods' swelling vocals somehow triggers my fight, flight or freeze response. That could have something to do with the visuals too, created with support from NZ On Air by Martin Sagadin and Woods himself, captured on crackly 16mm film by cinematographer Julian Vares. In his own words, Ben describes the video shoot as "Honestly the most bizarre and oddly liberating experience to gyrate nude under a spotlight for hours on cam". I'm assuming by now you've already hit play, but make sure to peel your eyes off Ben Woods' undulating flesh for a moment and get up to speed with his upcoming tour dates...

Undertheradar proudly presents...

Ben Woods New Zealand Tour

Tickets available HERE via UTR

Ben Woods' 'Body Rhyme' is out now on all major streaming platforms.

Press release:

Expression becomes its most potent under floodlight. At least, it does in 'Body Rhyme', Ben Woods’ latest release since his debut album, PUT (2018).

On 'Body Rhyme', Woods moves into expansive territory, with bolshy, polished production. Tape recorders become melodic beat makers and are paired with stumbling pianos and guitars. 'Body Rhyme' is an up tempo, though simultaneously hushed, sparsely laid single. “Nothing could be wrong with that / showing both our eyes turn black” - Woods sings of liberation through exposing our true natures. 'Body Rhyme' inhabits the ebb and flow between vulnerability and self-protection, while Woods’ voice, bright and forefront, hits sinister and bold, with a new sense of grounding since we last heard it.

'Body Rhyme' comes as the first release from a series of sessions with Ben Edwards in Lyttelton. Edwards is known for his port-side recording shack The Sitting Room, which has been responsible for the debuts of beloved alt-folk/country alumni Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams, and Julia Jacklin. Its accompanying video, directed by Martin Sagadin, is built entirely from clips of Woods’ gyrating nude figure falling to darkness. Shot on black and white 16mm film, the video summons the vivid monochrome of German Expressionist film and Samuel Beckett’s absurdist theatre. Woods’ grotesque, fleshy display propels his latest leap toward a newfangled brand of poignancy.

Woods has remained consistently performing and producing work since his debut in 2018. If not circuiting New Zealand with his group, touring or performing at festivals, he could be found composing soundtracks for film. The release of his ruminative long player PUT saw him performing alongside Steve Gunn, No Age, Tiny Ruins, and touring with Aldous Harding.

Through lockdown, Woods turned his energy outwards as he managed an online streaming festival—Better Living, Everyone. The festival boasted 30+ artists including Lawrence Arabia, Marlon Williams, Emily Edrosa, and Delaney Davidson, and attained more than 15,000 viewers.

'Body Rhyme 'comes as the first release in a new chapter for Woods’ music. His days are monastic, spent at home or around the bend at Edwards’ studio fervently working towards his new album. “There’s much less approximation involved in the work we’ve done, because it’s so localised” he states. “We’ve had the time to give all these ideas their own space. So, it’s more of an exercise of checking in with the songs, retuning the knobs and dials, and seeing how they breathe in new environments. I want the recordings to exist as a world in themselves, so they’ve got to be treated as living”.