Interview: Lee Piazza (The Benefit of the Free Man)

Lee Piazza (lead singer of The Benefit of the Free Man)

The Benefit of the Free Man are one of my favourite Toronto bands. They marry dark poetic meditations with the lush drama of acoustic strings. They employ deeply absorbing rhythms, haunting melodies, and intense dynamics, all combined with a certain stately grace. Their debut EP/mini-album is one of the most affecting listening experiences I’ve had during the last year.

I sat down with their lead singer, the one and only Lee Piazza, to talk about his early love of language and rhythm, the genesis of the band, and the inspirations behind the songs on their first release.

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The Benefit of the Free Man

The Benefit of the Free Man are not afraid. They mine the dark places of the human psyche, extracting beauty from the loneliest places. Their warped metaphors and shifting dynamics form a type of sonic dance with the listener, and the emotions they express echo through space like voices in an empty ballroom. This is Dylan and Cohen jamming at David Lynch’s house, after conjuring the ghost of Bach.