The fine line between love and obsession is carefully toed by rising singer/songwriter Ben de la Cour on his haunting new single “Down to the Water’s Edge.” Credited by Red Line Roots with offering “subtle hints of Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt, and Leonard Cohen,” de la Cour’s hauntingly dark and sometimes humorous style is rapidly making the well-traveled singer the face of the increasingly popular Americanoir sound. Described by de la Cour as a “creepshow manifesto” in which the narrator obsesses over his unknowing victim, “Down to the Water’s Edge” is the first single from de la Cour’s forthcoming Midnight in Havana album. Midnight in Havana will be released via Nashville’s Flour Sack Cape Records, a label that “aims to document the constantly evolving sound of one city.”
De la Cour has lived a different kind of life. After growing up in Brooklyn, he set out to see the world as an amateur boxer, bartender, and agricultural worker. He lived in Havana, Paris, London, Los Angeles, and New Orleans before finally settling in Nashville. It was at Nashville’s Greenland Sound that de la Cour recorded the eleven songs of perfectly crafted Americanoir that make up Midnight in Havana.
De la Cour’s extensive travels have taken him to some strange and sometimes dark and desperate places, places he documents so eloquently on Midnight in Havana. Tales of substance abuse, murder, and mental illness sit in perfect juxtaposition with playful lightheartedness and an ever-present glimmer of hope. However, upon closer inspection, darkness almost always wins. An unlikely hero, but one that suits de la Cour.
