Benjamin Shepherd goes by Ben.
Last week, the Henrico-based musician quietly released his fourth studio album, “Near Future,” and I think it’s his best. Not to detract from the Tennessee-born troubadour’s past work; Shepherd’s back catalogue holds a winning streak with production honed at Montrose Studios and top-shelf contributors.
In comparison, “Near Future” arrives like a departure.
Still anchored by Shepherd’s songwriting, the album is quick and adept at exploring new terrain in a stylized variety of shapes and sizes on each of its 11 tracks. Longtime collaborators Kevin Guild and Charlie Glen make cameos, but even without a consistent band backbone or stacked arrangements, Shepherd’s latest feels like his most fully formed.
Every song on “Near Future” has its own incongruent puzzle-piece-like shape. This rewards hearing it as a whole, to get the full picture. There’s dense yet lush narrative folk followed by swirls of ragtime and then Baroque-pop balladry. “The Lonely Racer” cuts in like some sort of Canned Heat, Gary Glitter boogie epiphany, before getting a touch jazzy on “Will I Find You There” in that Zen Buddhist mode of Leonard Cohen. The lead single, “Doldrums,” brings on waves of distortion reminiscent of peak Red House Painters. “Come Away” is an expansive detour; at over ten minutes, it works as a meditation to recenter everything that comes before and after it.
But what the hell do I know? I wanted to pull back the curtain with Shepherd to find out more behind the accomplishment of his new album.
Style: How is “Near Future” a departure from your previous three albums? On the other side of that coin, how do you consider it a continuation of your output?
Benjamin Shepherd: Well, the main way it’s not like the previous albums is that I recorded it at my home studio, did all of the engineering myself except for the mastering. It was all done on tape — Tascam 388 8-track for the multitrack and Ampex 440B for the stereo mixdown — no computers used until the hi-res files were bounced off of the master tapes to send to mastering. Sonically it’s closer to what I hear in my head, which is kind of mid-fi, very mid-rangey and not too affected. I was listening to Leonard Cohen’s first record a lot for sonic inspiration, as well as Wipers’ “Over the Edge,” oddly enough.
Tape, of course, has a sound lots of people seem to like, which I think has to do with the natural compression, the harmonic content, and even the noise to some degree. But what I like most about it is the workflow. Almost every song started with a live performance of the vocal and guitar on two tracks. There was, of course, plenty of overdubbing to follow, but minimal editing and punching in. Working with a DAW [Digital Audio Workstation] the temptation to edit endlessly is too great, so this time around I deliberately put myself in the position of having to be able to perform the song each time and be ok with some mistakes.
The writing process, however, never really changes for me. So, as a collection of songs, I don’t know that there’s a lot that sets it apart from my previous records, even though I feel strongly that this one contains some of the more interesting pieces I’ve written. It’s maybe more varied in style across the track list than some of my previous albums.
How’d you land on Mostly Gin for the name of your studio?
It’s a dumb, old in-joke from the days when I would drink whatever is lying around, haha. I needed a name and this recurring phrase from a long time ago popped into my head. Still love gin though.
What are some advantages to recording at home? In general, do you enjoy the recording process? Or do you prefer writing?
The advantages to home recording for me are having more control over the process, being able to work without a clock, though this can also be a detriment. [Also] the fact that I have a way smaller set up and gear list than a professional studio, which forces creative decision making.
Writing is the thing I love the most, but lately I’ve been learning more about recording — specifically analog recording — than I ever had ambition to know. I’ve come to understand that you can’t own an old pro or semi-pro tape machine and not also learn how to service it. Not what I was bargaining for when I started this studio space, but I’m thankful for what I’ve learned.

What about performing for people?
Playing live is something that takes momentum and I’ve been largely out of the game for the last year and a half. I never feel like I’m a better performer than when I’m finishing a tour but that confidence and sharpness goes away quickly. You just have to keep doing it. Few weeks after tour and I’ll get butterflies playing in front of people again like it’s the first time I’m doing it.
So where on the spectrum of tour-tight to butterflies does that put you for the “Near Future” album release show?
Well, I’ve only played three gigs in the last year, plus I’ve got two people singing with me at this show who haven’t done so before, so it feels more like a tightrope walk than usual. But the arrangements we’ve come up with are like a shot in the arm for these songs, so I imagine I’m just going to waver between excitement and dread until we’re actually up there. In that way, it’ll be like any other show.
You mention the varied styles on [the new album], and cited Leonard Cohen and the Wipers as influences on your production; what were some other things in rotation when you were writing the album?
It’s hard to say what I was listening to when I was writing it because these songs weren’t written all at once. I’m always listening to Barry Bliss, Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson as lyrical inspirations. Was certainly listening to older stuff like Lou Reed, Judee Sill, Dylan, Replacements, Stax and Sun Records stuff, too.

Contrasting that variety of style, the lyrics are especially precise, which I appreciate. Newport News, COVID, Modelo, Soft Parade and Blues Traveler all make appearances early on. Was this a conscious move in your lyric writing?
I gravitate to a prosaic, literal, clear lyric style, whether or not I always write that way. A few of the people I mentioned above came up in the NYC anti-folk scene as I did, and that’s where I learned that way of writing.
There’s also a lot of driving and geography too — shoutout to Varina! How would you compare your experience in the NYC anti-folk scene to Richmond right now?
I haven’t lived up there for a long time now so I don’t know what’s going on anymore, but I met some of the best songwriters in the world there. I’ve never really seen anything in Richmond that compares. Nor has there ever been as cohesive a scene here for songwriters as the anti-folk scene was. But all my friends are here, so this is where I live.
Okay, the last one is an 11-part question! Would you take us through the album song by song, and tell us one thing about each one that’s not apparent just from listening to it? First thought, best thought.
“Mid-Atlantic Blue”
My father plays bass, Charlie Glenn from the Trillions and Palm Palm plays piano.
“Varina Lullaby’
First song I wrote after moving to east Henrico from Richmond.
“Marigolds”
First song recorded for the record.
“Words”
Contains certain words and phrases with double meanings depending on how you hear them. Bored/board, aligned/a line, towering specter/tower inspector. The full lyrics are on Bandcamp.
“The Lonely Racer”
Lots of sampling in this including backwards tape passages, harmonica and hammer dulcimer; slowed down voices and cat growls.
“Will I Find You There”
Written as a “type” song which I imagined some ’40s crooner singing.
“Not Me”
One of the odder arrangements on the album; double drop-D guitar, bowed bass, bongos, piano and chord organ.
“Doldrums”
Based on a chord and melody pattern I wrote many years ago and revived for this album.
“Come Away”
The longest song I’ve ever written and probably my favorite of this bunch to have worked on.
“The Tides”
Used here as an epilogue, as I feel that “Come Away” is the closer.
A record release show for Benjamin Shepherd’s “Near Future” will be held this Saturday, Jan. 25 at Gallery5 with Cal Forger Day and Julie Storey and friends. Doors are at 7 p.m. and admission costs $12 (in advance) and $15 (day of show).