Ben Kunder’s upbringing may have made his vocation as a singer/songwriter of compelling compositions inevitable. His parents were both deeply immersed in the Toronto theatrical community, and from an early age, Kunder was exposed to the workings both on and off stage and the level of commitment and artistry required in such a profession.
His parents also bought him along to concerts featuring some of the most influential songwriters in the history of recorded music such as Bob Dylan (whom he saw twice before he was 10) and his personal hero Neil Young. They also encouraged him to appreciate art from both an aesthetic and critical level.
It thus comes as little surprise that Kunder became an actor, participating in musical theatre for almost a decade before homing in on making music as his primary creative outlet. In 2015 he released his debut solo album, Golden, which was received to critical acclaim. His new album, Better Human, was just released through Comino Music, and is an artistic tour de force that sees Kunder delving deep into his heart and soul to bring forth songs that open his soul and heart to the world – the way he believes he can best connect with others and help them to affirm their own thoughts, feelings, fears and joys.
“I had just been to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Massey Hall and saw my idol Neil Young talk about my craft and what it takes to keep going and why we do it. And my peers performed their songs and it was a really inspiring way to head into the studio. I was there with my partner and at the time our five-month-old second child and I came to the realization that I get to do what I love and part of that is sharing what I feel deeply as a human, and that’s truly how I want to connect,” Kunder said from his home in Toronto, where he was born and raised.
“I made a post on my social media stuff which was a photo of my wife and kids where I was talking about working harder to be a better human for myself and for my kids and for the environment and for all of you and how we all have to work harder and by sharing our light and our dark, we can get there; we can connect.”
The process for compiling and recording the material for Better Human was a bit different this time out compared to how Kunder worked previously. This time out, he came in with less complete songs, or even just germs of ideas, with the intent on allowing the impressive array of musicians he chose to collaborate with to offer their input, but also to feed off the overall vibe of the Baldwin Street Sound studio under the direction of producer Aaron Goldstein.
It was an artistic crucible that led to him using the vehicle of his songs to dig deeper and take themes and ideas and messages that perhaps would have a universal resonance and make the more of his own – adding a revelatory frisson to the songs which comes across in the words he wrote and his evocative vocal performances.
“I came into the studio with a very loose idea of what the record was going to be. There were many directions it could have gone in. I had partly written songs and we hadn’t really rehearsed anything. I was putting a lot of faith in my producer Aaron Goldstein and the players, most of whom had just heard the demos the weekend before we came into the studio. Everything was sort of in the moment. The overall message was clear, but whether it was going to be more personal or more universal, maybe that wasn’t as clear until the song Better Human came to light that first morning,” he explained.
“In all of my writing, as deeply personal as it may be, I do write so other people, the listeners, can connect and feel like it’s their story and have it mean whatever they want it to mean. My last record was more the modern way of making records. It was songs that I had worked on with the band for a couple of years and I knew exactly what they were going to sound like and what I wanted going in, and I also produced that record myself.
“This time I needed to put faith in the songs and the people I was playing with, and I am glad that I did. Before we played each song we just sat down in the control room and I played the song on the guitar just to kind of set the tone and then we went right in and just went for it.”
Goldstein played a pivotal role in shaping the songs, and also helped Kunder enact his evolving vision for the album, essentially performing the role as both the technical engineer for the recording, but also the artistic conscience for Kunder and his emotionally ambitious project.
“Aaron and I have been friends for a few years and he’s been playing on and off with me and my band for about five years. So, the connection is there, and I trust him and his musical taste. I helped him build his studio as well, so it felt right to do the record in that studio; it felt like doing it at home. And I just knew that he was going to bring that old school energy where we’re all going to go into a room with just open hearts, wanting to make really great music together,” he said.
“And his instincts are dead on. We put really great players in the room and he just let them express themselves, and he lets me express myself. Then he works to elevate whatever we’re doing. He’s a great producer and I trust him implicitly.”
The result is an album that explores key themes on what it means to be human, but also the ways that we could become better individuals, and better as a society, if we would only have the courage to take a long hard look at the darker thoughts and ideas and emotions that are holding us back.
“I feel like the message on the title track is pretty clear. I am working harder to be a better human for myself, and my partner and my children. You have to love yourself before you can love anyone else, so you’ve got to start from somewhere. And I think the way to do that is by being open and allowing yourself to feel sad as well as happy and share that. We don’t all have to be positive all the time. We can see the dark – sometimes we have to be in our darkest places to see the light. And sometimes the world has to be dark enough that we have to stand up and act as well,” Kunder explained.
“I think the message is for us all to be honest with ourselves and then to be active in loving ourselves and each other and working harder to be better humans. We can’t sit around being lazy and letting things happen to us. We have to be active.”
And following that thread, the song Fight for Time, which was co-written by Maia Davies formerly of Ladies of the Canyon examines the challenges that we all face in prioritizing this process of being active in bettering ourselves and our world.
“I often feel helpless because I am so busy trying to work and watching my kids and being a good life partner and trying to create. And I see things happening in the world around me and I don’t know how I cane help or be active or where I am going to find the time to even contemplate it. So, I am searching all the time for ways to create more time and space for myself to be an ally or to be supportive of others. The album and this song feels very relevant to me, which is why I am happy that it is coming out right now. And it’s almost like my mantra now to remind myself when I am feeling in a dark place, or when I feel like there is so much darkness in the world and shit going on, I just need to tell myself that I am working harder every day to find ways to do that,” Kunder said.
“And the song Fight for Time was sparked from conversations about me trying to find space to appreciate all the positive things in my life so that I can work on myself and work on being available to the world and taking time to be in nature and actually appreciating my children and giving them the love, they need.”
Night Sky is one of the older songs on the album and was initially penned when Kunder’s first child was born a few years ago and ponders the notion how sometimes the endless navel gazing about one’s place in the universe gets suddenly shaken up with the advent of another little human who needs you.
“It’s inspired by a children’s book that was given to me by my brother and it was about the idea of not knowing what my world is going to be like in a few months and how that would impact me and overtake me and how I was really a little speck of nothing and using the idea of being a firefly in the night underneath the starry sk. And then all of a sudden my world changes dramatically and I need to provide for my partner and my kids and give them that priority space in my life,” he said, adding that the song Hard Line picks up that narrative as Kunder looks at the dichotomy between the image we project to the world, particularly through the medium of social media, and the reality of our day to day challenges.
“It’s a little bit darker. And again, we all seem to have this everyday outward façade that exists that we put on to the world through small talk about the weather or sharing pictures of ourselves being in beautiful and happy places. And then trying to be a superhero for my family, when I feel like I am losing myself at the same time and who I thought I was is maybe not who I really am.”
The primary philosophy underlying these soberly self-inquisitional songs is that Kunder feels expressing these fears, feelings and observations on a deeply personal level will help him connect to those who are experiencing the same sorts of existential crises, be they folks listening to the album, or those at his shows.
“I do like to talk a lot and communicate and tell stories. And I think maybe I have found the most positive and cathartic place to do it in songwriting. I feel that if you can’t find the right words to say, you’ve got to sing it. And its not just the words, but the music in songs can impact your emotions and connect you to the audience as well. Certain tones and chord progressions and sequences can hit you in certain ways and can take you to a place where maybe you don’t have to say anything or have smart rhyming lyric to understand the emotion that the song is about,” he said.
“For a long time, I thought I was a very easy going, positive, happy-go-lucky person. But as life got busier and I gained more responsibilities I realized that maybe I had more anxiety and was a little harder on myself and more self-deprecating than I ever knew that I was. And I wasn’t sharing that with people, with my friends or the people closest to me.
“I realized also with social media and technology we fall into this trap of putting what we want others to see out in the world, nor really sharing any darkness or connecting deeply. I realized that I need to open up more as an artist and the more I connect with people and tell them how I feel and what I am going through, the more I realize that everybody is going through the same thing and we can support one another. Just because I have an incredible partner and beautiful kids and get to do what I love, that doesn’t mean I am happy all the time or that my life is easy. I fell like by baring my soul and sharing my darkness and my light, I can connect more with people and maybe they will feel more able to connect with others and share the reality of what they are going through.”
In terms of connecting with live audiences, Kunder said that after a small tour of Ontario and Quebec around the release of Better Human, he will take much of the summer off, preparing for an extensive tour of Canada, Europe and the U.K. in the fall.
For information on dates, and more information on Kunder and Better Human, visit http://www.benkunder.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
