{"id":167659,"date":"2025-09-25T08:01:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/167659\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T08:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:01:18","slug":"ben-chavasse-releases-debut-album-boxing-and-announces-release-gig-muzic-nz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/167659\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Chavasse Releases Debut Album \u2018Boxing\u2019 and Announces Release Gig \u2013 Muzic.NZ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Indie-folk singer-songwriter\u00a0Ben Chavasse\u00a0enters the ring with his self-assured debut LP,\u00a0Boxing. With introspective confidence, Chavasse delves into themes of adolescence and self-discovery while unpacking the institutions that shape a young person\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about being boxed in,\u201d Chavasse says, \u201cand pushing back against messages reinforced in high school and religious institutions that feel stifling or limiting in worldview.\u201d Threaded with a youthful energy,\u00a0Boxing\u00a0is a curation of the stories, emotions and experiences marking Chavasse\u2019s coming-of-age. \u201cI love music that is melancholic with some kind of sweetness or edge. It helps me connect with feelings I don\u2019t find easy to access in other ways,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Chavasse is no stranger to dedication, growth, and patience, quietly working on his craft since winning Smokefree Rockquest as a 16-year-old. \u201cIt\u2019s cathartic to be able to release this album. As I\u2019ve been sitting on these songs for a long time,\u201d he says. After a decade of \u2018voice-note\u2019 phone recordings, his debut album is a blend of grounded imagery, bittersweet lyrical foundations, and influences from rock, punk, and jazz.<\/p>\n<p>Influenced by the likes of\u00a0Tiny Ruins,\u00a0Tom Waits,\u00a0Angel Olsen,\u00a0Bob Dylan,\u00a0Joanna Newsom,\u00a0Japanese Breakfast, and\u00a0Alex G, Ben Chavasse\u2019s sound is a distinctive mix of indie-folk and playful genre-blending textures featuring strings and horns.<\/p>\n<p>Opening single, Letdown\u00a0heralds Chavasse\u2019s arrival through tender and reflective lyricism. \u201cIt was this moment of maturing,\u201d he says, \u201cthe realisation that the people you look up to can\u2019t always provide all the answers.\u201d Pip Dog\u00a0follows as a grand sonic climax with trembling strings. \u201cI feel like a mutt\/So don\u2019t lock me out,\u201d Chavasse sings, gripped by a childhood memory of being handed things before being ready. Chugga\u00a0pairs its driving bassline with a biting critique of the pressures placed on young couples to map out the rest of their lives in line with familial expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Grounded in collaborations from Chavasse\u2019s time at Auckland University\u2019s Jazz school,\u00a0Boxing\u00a0is co-produced and engineered by\u00a0Michael Howell (SKILAA) and mastered by\u00a0Josh Llewellyn\u00a0(Downbeat Mastering). A gig to celebrate the release is taking place on\u00a0September 27th at The Button Factory. The show will start at 7pm, with T\u0101maki Makaurau-based artist and producer\u00a0Benjamin Mack\u00a0opening with his band.<\/p>\n<p>With a second album in the works, Chavasse is excited to keep expanding his horizons through producing and songwriting.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-260336\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/benchavasseposter-724x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Benchavasseposter\" width=\"724\" height=\"1024\"  \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indie-folk singer-songwriter\u00a0Ben Chavasse\u00a0enters the ring with his self-assured debut LP,\u00a0Boxing. With introspective confidence, Chavasse delves into themes of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-167659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}