Benjamin Blower: The Musician

Truth be told, I am not a musician. Nor a music critic. I lack the experience and linguistic tools to speak about music with any real authority.


But if you must take my advice, please, download Benjamin Blower's music yourself. It is free. Have a listen to what it is that I cannot satisfactorily put words to. I can only attempt to be somewhat descriptive and so, here it goes.

Benjamin Blower is a thoroughly English prophet whose message sings to a particular people, to us, the people, the disenfranchised public. Though universally significant, I can’t help but feel his lyrics call out to a particular us that I feel a part of.


His pop. culture-critique brings about a rhythmic conscientization where I find myself singing, “the darkness doesn’t love you baby, come out while you can!” And it is this work with the Army of The Broken Hearted and their odd marching-band-esque public performances which go out into the streets of old B'Town and seek out the lost and lonely. They sing, they shout, and they chant over the death of death. "Join us in our victory song, join us in the ultimate victory!"

Who doesn’t wish that they were on that bus? In that town? Benjamin Blower’s performances are so reminiscent of a people bringing good news; good news which requires a public repentance for we have all participated in the system that we lyrically shame. The music mourns as well as celebrates: tears down and builds up.

His Babylon is Dead volumes proclaim that the evil form of this current kingdom is fading away, that it is being overthrown by Love and His Kingdom, in a philosophically rich way. He heralds and proclaims, with a heavy beat that musically invites us and a rebellious message that summons us. “Oh the illusion of freedom was enslavement, self interest was the devil himself…".


It is not a finished, perfect, synthesised pop song, but a gritty, and real, acted-out song and dance, lamenting the lost and calling out the prisoner.

“Jesus said, whoever loves his own life the most will lose it, we got some patronising religious labels for that kind of thing [amen] We said that we would be on that, that his way was good for him, even though he just said that no man’s own way is good for himself, but we didn’t really get that ‘cause we weren’t really listening."

Music calls out and it invites in. John Piper once said, “How will we bid the nations to sing with us if we are not singing over our Saviour? 'Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth.' How you gonna say that? Mission is bidding the nations. 'sing with us, if you’re not singing!’"

I currently love listening to Benjamin Blower's “Stand together”. It is anthemic; promoting unity and encouraging us to come together and see written in the pages of the history the second half of his Kingdom Vs. Empire. Come now, be roused from your sleep and see His Kingdom established in your heart and in our streets, in your home and in our pubs, in your church and in birmingham.


Paul and Silas sang in prison (Acts 16). It was defiance, uplifting, soul cheering, brother and sister uniting defiance.

“Shall we go down to the river and drown the old ways? Shall we go drown the sinner and bring him up alive again?"