Biography
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Years Active
2007 – present (17 years)
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Founded In
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States
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Members
- Tamar Kamin
The Van Allen Belt is the pop concept of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Benjamin Ferris. The project enlivens his style of patchwork storytelling in an experimental electronic environment as fronted by classically-influenced vocalist Tamar Kamin, and engineered by sound designer Scott Taylor.
The project started in 2007 with a 20 song debut “Meal Ticket to Purgatory.” This home-recorded, lo-fi feast of psych-pop nuggets is a multi-layered and diverse experience including vocalists Tamar Kamin & former member Martine Mancini. Steeped in a twisted, awkwardly wry lyrical nostalgia for 1960's girl group pop a la Burt Bacharach/Phil Spector, the album received strong critical and underground approval. An invitation to play with Stereolab and Atlas Sound catalyzed the members to create a live band capable of pulling off the heady concept.
In 2009, the sophomore album “Superpowerfragilis” was an evolution further into the sphere of pop social commentary, grabbing the complementary attention of Julian Cope at Head Heritage. In support of this record the members embarked on a visual vessel that would cut a new jib to their productivity in media. Two self-produced music videos were released for the songs “Lovely In Akron” and “Out To Lunch” in 2010.
Visual accompaniment would become a permanent addition to the live show that developed into an interconnected electronic hybrid of the live musicians as Scott Taylor became the group’s sound designer and engineer. Once they had refined a live concept, they began touring more frequently and between national stints performances, continued with home recordings. Fluctuating between psychedelic arias, grandiose cinematic scores, off-kilter jazz and swirling breakbeats, the “Songs” EP (2013) received international reviews from The Wire Magazine. Opportunity surfaced for another full-fledged video production in a vacant commercial space in Youngstown, OH and the music video for the title track “Songs” premiered soon after this release. The single is currently in rotation on NPR.
With the 3rd LP "Heaven On A Branch" (2014) Ferris’ production is a sly study in mixing and matching. His patchwork recordings use manipulated turntable channels that are chopped up and reconstructed to conform to the chord structures of underlying instrumentation. The soulful lyrical delivery drives this powerful and mature offering that brims with nuance and branches into personal territories.
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