Excerpt: “Rich Bennett’s tastes seem to veer towards lounge pop as evidenced on his ‘better than it sounds on paper’ last album Music For Underwater Supermarkets, not to mention his significant retro-futurist contributions to great records by Monocle and Hotels. As the title implies, On Holiday is a concept album Bennett has created (along with singer-songwriter Rebecca Pronsky) about leisure time away from home and work pressures…. As with some of his previus records, Bennett appears to be in typically laid back mood on the surface. Yet after each listen, the record sounds deeper and more troubled than the last time, which indicates Bennett is a less than ideal travelling companion but at least his music offers an alternative soundtrack.”

Leonard’s Lair

Excerpt: “New York’s maestro of shadowy lounge tinged pop Rich Bennett is back with a follow up to his stunning 2008 album Music for Underwater Supermarkets entitled On Holiday… Bennett’s latest work is brimming with subtly dark, breezy melodies and the buoyant vocals of both Bennett and Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Rebecca Pronsky. From the gorgeous single ‘Misty Valley’ to the delicious minor key melancholy of ‘Night Part 2′, On Holiday is as intoxicating as it is playful.”

Purple Revolver

Excerpt: “Beautiful summery album from the New York composer and multi-instrumentalist. The first surprise is that Mr Bennett has an appealingly reedy voice (sometimes reminiscient of Bob Mould, to my ears), for someone whose last album was wholly instrumental. Like that album, the Beach Boys’ trademark left-right keyboard alternations are evident here, along with some pleasantly disorientating slide guitar. There’s the wonderful wooziness of ‘EPO’, with its whistled main melody and dreamy high-register synths, recalling Angelo Badalamenti soundtracks (indeed, the instrumental coda, ‘Green Memories’, with its ominous, shifting keyboard patterns, would be right at home in a David Lynch film.) The samba shuffle of ‘Night Part 1′ also stands out, with a beautiful vibes arrangement, capped with an ecstatic double saxophone solo over church organ. The overall mood though, despite the uplifting textures, is something like displacement, which after all is one effect of being on holiday. Highly recommended.”

Underground of Happiness

Excerpt: “Rich Bennett… claims Martin Denny as an influence, although there isn’t really much in common with the maestro… as what we have here is much darker in tone bearing more resemblance to an amalgam of left of centre troubadours like Baltimore’s The Agrarians and the Mamas and the Papas.  The screwed up uncomfortableness of ‘Wild Ride’ is a good example of this… A dramatic, in the theatrical sense, right turn takes place with ‘The Peak’ taking us off in to a lo-fi journey into ambient electronica before ‘Night Pt1′ and ‘Night Pt2′ heads off into the arena of a soundtrack to a really cool sixties European movie… Much of the pleasure derived from it comes from the vocal interplay between the downbeat Mr Bennett and the civilised Rebecca Pronsky, but the lasting value comes from the almost wilful obscurity of it all. I can’t supply scientific proof but, trust me, it just works.”

Bluesbunny