Ben Lubeck is a songwriter based in Minneapolis. He is a founding member of Farewell Milwaukee and has released three records with the band. Rented Rooms is Ben's first solo effort. The album was recorded with Brad Bivens in-between Ben's schedule with Farewell Milwaukee. Ben tracked the vocals and guitar live then augmented each song with contributions from notable Twin City musicians including Ben Kyle, Adam Levy, Jacob Hanson, Alex Young, and many more. The album was conceived as an act of reconciliation toward's Ben's father, while contemplating his own new found status as a dad.
"I’m learning that love is a verb. It’s moves and it grows. It can be an infectious rhythm or it can create fear and cavernous gaps in our hearts. Rented Rooms is a love letter.
Like many of us, my dad has demons and struggles. Sometimes he’s fully present, and sometimes he disappears into his own pain and weakness. He has an illness that can bring out his greatest strengths, or magnify his most crippling weaknesses. At times he's been an inseparable friend, other times the distant ghost of a memory. I became a father in November of 2013 and I’ve come to the realization that I can’t be the best father I can be without making peace with my own.
While creating these songs, I couldn’t help but think of the many unique corners of the world my dad and I have explored together. There was the time we slept in a dead woman’s bed in Las Cruces, a homeless shelter in Chicago, an unfurnished efficiency apartment in Milwaukee where we ate Thanksgiving dinner on the floor. The walls of these places left an impression on me, but not as much as the time spent with my dad. I will always cherish those days together.
Today It’s easier for me to share myself through song. I think that's why it was natural and fitting for me to communicate with my dad this way, even if he may never hear it. He used to tell me that the most beautiful thing about a person’s mind is that it can change, which his does a lot. I love that quote. Though my thoughts and emotions have run the gamut throughout the years, my love for him has never changed. I think it's time I reminded him of that; not only through the songs on this record, but with a phone call."
-Ben Lubeck
