Ben Barnes Releases Debut EP 'Songs For You'

Today is the day Shadow and Bone/The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian/The Punisher/Westworld actor Ben Barnes has been waiting 20 years for. His highly anticipated debut EP, Songs For You, is out now on all digital outlets via Label Logic, as distributed by Ingrooves.

Also out today is the stirring and emotional video for "Rise Up," which was directed by Georgia King and features his The Punisher co-star Floriana Lima.

Last month, Barnes introduced his first song to the world with his soulful first single "11:11." As People declared, "You may know Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia, or perhaps as General Kirigan in Netflix's Shadow and Bone. But chances are, you don't know him as a crooning piano man singing blue-eyed soul - at least, not yet. In that case, allow Barnes to reintroduce himself." While The A.V. Club praised, "Working with producers John Alagia and Jesse Siebenberg, Barnes makes a confident debut with this buoyant '70s throwback that's brimming with strings and brass and soaring vocals."

About the EP and the song from which the title is based, In Style proclaimed, "The song's timeless intimacy calls to mind the kind of vulnerability Joni Mitchell talked about when she talked about writing her seminal Blue album, that she felt like 'a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes,' susceptible to being torn away. The vulnerability Barnes displays on Songs For You is similarly defenseless, an unhesitant ripping open." And as Medium.com phrased quite poetically, "The five songs on Songs For You, his debut EP, prevent some events from becoming blurred memories of twenty years ago. Those who have played a role in them, now decorate rhythmic poems, emanate the warmth of a Sunday morning and collect stars at nightfall."

Listen to the new EP here:

"Rise Up" Music Video: