Music has an unusual ability to act as a medium for making powerful statements, sometimes calling for reform.
Other times it's a deeply personal message about experiences or an individual's outlook on life.
Benjy Davis Project's fourth album, "Lost Souls Like Us," is exactly that: a statement about where the band has been, where they are headed and experiences in between.
Benjy Davis Project makes rock and roll music for the modern era.
Each song emanates a poppy hook or a melancholic tone that, when repeated over the span of three to four minutes, stays with the listener long after the song has ended.
The most memorable song on "Lost Souls Like Us," without question, is Bite My Tongue. For the most part, the song is a generic indictment of two things that seem to bother people more than any other, politicians and slow drivers.
This song would hardly pass for memorable if it wasn't for the lyrics of the second half of the song. Benjy Davis says, "When The Radiators said we couldn't even touch their drums / It made me want to bite my tongue."
Anyone who has listened to New Orleans funk music in the last 30 years knows The Radiators have been a mainstay in the funk and jam music scenes for some time.
When Baton Rouge native Davis decides to call out a funk-music mainstay such as The Radiators, it shows he believes in everything he's done since the as-yet-unconfirmed snubbing by the funk legends.
Later in the song, Davis refuses to apologize when he says, "They might find me someday lying face down dead in a ditch but / I ain't never gonna bite my tongue."
Whether Davis' music is comparable to that of The Radiators is a matter of personal preference, but one thing is for sure: Davis is supremely confident in his music and what he has to say, and for that one must respect him.
While not as memorable as Bite My Tongue, the rest of the album certainly has its moments.
Davis panders to his overwhelmingly collegeaged fan base with the songs Get High and Send Your Love Down, a lessthan-discreet allusion to something Davis desperately seems to want from his significant other.
Overall, "Lost Souls Like Us" feels a little lost. Most of the songs have a fun hook or an interesting story, but ultimately the album as a whole lacks depth.
Each song provides some insight into Davis' mind, but no revelation is made that can't be gathered in the first three songs, or on another Davis album. And on an album that falls short on personality in the lyrics, musical proficiency is required to engage the listener, which is something Davis seems to lack.
For dedicated Benjy Davis Project fans, this album is another solid addition to the BDP canon, but other listeners should probably just pass on it all together.
And they should probably check out The Radiators just for argument's sake.
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