Ben Labat to Release Solo Album ECHOLOCATIONISM

Louisiana singer-songwriter and longtime bandleader Ben Labat is releasing a new solo album, Echolocationism, an 11-track record arriving Oct. 23. The album is available for pre-order.

Best known for his work with THE TERMS and BEN LABAT & THE HAPPY DEVIL, Labat takes an intentionally stripped-down approach on his new record. At its core, Echolocationism is simply Labat, his voice and his grandfather's Martin D-28 acoustic guitar.

'I said, 'I'm gonna take the opposite approach. It's just gonna be me and an acoustic guitar,'' Labat says. 'There's a few overdubs, but mostly it's just me playing and singing at the same time.'

That simplicity is central to the album's character. Rather than polish away the imperfections, Labat leaves them intact: string rattles, cracked notes, shifting tempos, and the natural push and pull of a live performance. Many of the songs were recorded with Labat singing and playing simultaneously, without a metronome. The result is an intimate, roots-driven collection of alternative folk-rock songs that feels less like a studio construction than a person sitting across the room and telling you a story.

'Echolocationism is honest,' Labat says. 'In a world where so much of what we see and hear is manipulated by technology, social media and advertising, I felt it was important to release music that was, in every sense, human.'

The album's title comes from Labat's longtime fascination with acoustics and physics. A former physics teacher and control systems engineer, he has long been drawn to echolocation—the way animals use sound to navigate their surroundings and find what they're looking for. 'It's how you find things,' he says.

For Labat, songwriting serves much the same purpose. Over the years, he accumulated hundreds of unreleased songs and decades' worth of experiences. Echolocationism became an exercise in listening back, digging through the noise and finding the songs—and moments—that still carried something essential.

The album opens with 'Set a New Course,' the first single, a searching song about direction, circumstance and the forces that shape the choices people make.

Elsewhere, tracks including 'Islands,' 'Wild Eyes,' 'The Flame' and 'The Side Effects' explore connection, longing, uncertainty, and the strange emotional terrain of everyday life. The album closes with 'Matilda,' a Harry Styles song that carries a particularly personal meaning for Labat and his daughter. They used to sing it together on the drive to school, giving his recording of the song a resonance that extends well beyond the album itself.

Over the course of his career, Labat has shared stages with The Revivalists, Anders Osborne, Pat Green, Better Than Ezra, Blues Traveler and Tab Benoit, and he has performed a duet with Jackson Browne. His music has also appeared in such television programs as The Ghost Whisperer, The Real World and Jersey Shore, as well as films including Mini's First Time and Middle of Nowhere.

Now based in Southeast Louisiana, Labat is bringing Echolocationism to intimate listening rooms throughout the region, with additional performances to be announced. Fans can follow Ben Labat on social media (@benlabatmusic) and subscribe to his YouTube channel for new music, videos, track rollouts and upcoming show announcements.

Tracklist

Set a New Course

If This Ain't Love

Islands

Wild Eyes

The Flame

The Side Effects

Once a Runner, Always a Runaway

All the Time in the World

Blueberry

Don't Feed the Fire

Matilda

About Ben Labat

After 20 years writing and crafting songs steeped in love, heartbreak, trials and triumphs, Ben Labat has found his creativity to be inseparable from the life that shapes him. 'It's anything that shifts your emotion from your standard day. When life throws you a curveball, are you gonna sulk or are you gonna write about it?'

The Louisiana native built a career as a bandleader—initially with The Terms and eventually with Ben Labat & the Happy Devil, which released four full-length albums that generated worldwide exposure—but for Echolocationism, Labat sought something more intimate. He sought something honest. He sought art. The result is an 11-track album, among them 10 original tracks that Labat recorded himself, playing his grandfather's Martin D-28 acoustic guitar along the way.

Longtime fans of Labat know he has played some of the most historic venues in American folk music—from Los Angeles' Viper Room to Nashville's Exit/In to New Orleans' House of Blues—and his songs have been featured on such TV shows as The Ghost Whisperer, The Real World and Jersey Shore, and in films like Mini's First Time and Middle of Nowhere. He's currently booking himself in listening rooms around his Southeast Louisiana home as he releases Echolocationism.

Photo Credit: Khanh Labat @ K. Labat Photography