Ben Cosgrove: Space by Design (podcast)

You ever hear that David Foster Wallace graduation speech, “This is Water?” It follows from that joke where two fish are swimming along and one says something like, “The water’s great today,” and the other swims a little further and then halts and says, “Wait. What the hell is water?” And then Foster Wallce implores the graduates to be attentive to the metaphorical water they swim in. This is water, he repeats to himself, reminding himself that standing in line at the grocery store is, in fact, life. We can all take for granted the things around us, but if there is anyone I have ever met who embodies this idea of attentiveness and curiosity, it is Ben Cosgrove.

On his new record, The Trouble with Wilderness, Ben engages with the spaces that people have designed in and around our wild world. Gardens, highways, sidewalks–these spaces all seem so defined and established, but they are really quite precarious. Ben creates really compelling and engaging compositions to process his reflections on these spaces, and my favorite tracks on this album feature a felted piano–a sound that is transfixing and new. 

Photo credit: Max García Conover