Ben Kunder is bringing his sultry, down to earth folk music to a house concert in Kelowna.
The Torontonian set out to release a deeper message through his guitar strings in his sophomore album, Better Human.
“I feel I am a little more grounded, and like I know who I am as an artist and what my message is,” Kunder said.
Kunder addresses how the stresses of everyday life can amount on people while they continuously take on more responsibility and forget to make time to practice self care.
“I realized I have more anxiety and deal with forms of depression that I did not have before, it’s part of life getting busier and having more responsibility and trying to achieve something to make people proud,” he said. “This record for me has a lot of songs coming out of dark places and hopeful places. But, I think the messages on the record is what a lot of people are going through right now.”
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Sharing his experiences with anxiety and depression, Kunder looks to offer comfort to his fans who experience the same thing with every chord.
“It’s (music) one of the greatest forms of self expression, it can help us express the feelings and emotions that we don’t know how to put into words,” Kunder said. “It’s more important than ever now for musicians and artists creating things in general that are speaking up and sharing their struggles with people so that we are all on the same pages.”
His song, Hard Line does just that. Kunder says that it’s about what is beneath everyday formalities and small talk put to the beat, as a keyboard carries listeners through their lifetimes, and beyond a photograph posted online.
“It’s about having a picture of your beautiful family or a job you love and realizing that what is underneath may be a little more difficult to explain,” he said. “It’s about respecting about who we are and our personal history and journey looking past the façad.”
Tickets are available to the evening of music at Snedden House Concerts Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at www.sneddenhouseconcerts.com.