In the MUD: Ben Kessler

This week, MUD sat down with Ben Kessler to discuss his collaboration with Lizzy McAlpine, dig into his creative process, and talk about his latest single, "April."

Photo: Chase Denton | Styled by Sarah Corbett Woods | CD by Working Holiday

Ben Kessler is one of those artists you can't help but be fascinated by everything he says. From how he approached creativity during the pandemic to writing his latest single, "April," the Philly-native joins us for our second conversation of "In the MUD."

With his music, Ben is crafting a unique sound that juxtaposes with complex lyricism no one else would be able to put into words, except for him. Like most of his songs, "April" dives into emotional and deep themes that include relationships and letting go of the past in order to move on.

Ben also discussed his favorite collaboration with fellow Philly artist, Lizzy McAlpine. Even though the two musicians grew up only twenty minutes apart from each other, their music careers had never completely intersected until "False Art." This unique song is tied to another unique project, which is their music video. Ben recalls how rushed the process was considering Lizzy was leaving to London when they were able to shoot the video, but in a serendipitous way, it captured their unique vision.

"Lizzy was moving to London a couple days after I realized I wanted to put this song out. So I was like 'Can we do a music video really quickly?' She said sure. So I rented a camera, and my little brother helped record it. We just came up with the concept the day before, and like got a bunch of shit from Party City," Ben said about the process of creating the music video.

For MUD's new segment "In the MUD," Ben Kessler gets personal about his songwriting process and how he's created some of his favorite projects.

Ben Kessler discusses his latest song, "April" for his "In the MUD" segment.

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Follow Ben Kessler on Instagram and listen to his latest releases on Spotify and all streaming platforms. Interview by Madison Craig. Segment Producer is Lucy Jones.