Robbie Bennett drops two solo LPs
Robbie Bennett, the multifaceted musical architect behind the War on Drugs, is diving deep into his experimental soundscape, announcing the release of two brand new double solo albums: Steloken and Circulation. Both ambitious projects are slated for release on December 11 via American Dreams, offering listeners a journey into deeply personal and sonically complex territories.
These new records feature new compositions, including Bennett’s track Sister from Steloken and The Light on Your Face from Circulation, each offering a distinct auditory experience. The music itself is an exploration of an unfamiliar, yet deeply comforting, landscape—a place one wants to explore endlessly without ever having to backtrack.
The creation of these albums is rooted in Bennett’s distinctive approach to sound. The music grew directly from the keyboard rig he uses with the War on Drugs, leveraging an ingenious system of real-time layering. He managed to weave piano, synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, vocoders, and the polyphonic microtonal synthesizer, the Soma Terra, into a single, unified composition. Using MIDI from an acoustic player piano and sensory inputs from a gyroscope, Bennett could react instantly, allowing the instruments to shift seamlessly from atonal noise to beautiful, warm chords.
This experimental process resulted in a fascinating split for the material. Steloken leans into Bennett’s warm, fuzzy compositions, while Circulation embraces more abstract territory, embracing improvisation, accidents, and controlled chaos. The album titles themselves reflect personal introspection: Steloken references what Bennett’s daughter calls skeletons, and Circulation speaks to the meditative sensation of feeling one’s own blood flow.
Bennett’s philosophy is clear: imperfections are not flaws but essential elements. He insists that the full spectrum of mistakes and triumphs is what makes the music feel most real and beautiful, rejecting the urge to mute anything that feels uncomfortable.
Beyond his solo work, the War on Drugs continues to push boundaries. The group recently released “Who’s That,” marking their first new recording since 2022 and the studio debut of a track they had been performing live since 2024. Fans can now enjoy new material alongside the band’s ongoing tour, featuring tracks like “Walk Away” and “Now We’re Talkin’.”
Bennett’s work, whether through his solo explorations or his collaboration with the band, remains a compelling testament to the power of carefully constructed sonic chaos.
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