“Hindsight is always 20/20.” At the beginning of November Cape Town-based musician and producer Benjy de Kock, known for his eclectic sound and contributions to the Cape Town Music scene through Concept Records, released his debut solo album Hindsight 2020. Under the digital alias of Francis Soal, the concept album explores themes of digital identity, urban alienation and existential anxiety. The project covers a wide range of genres – Prog-Rock, Reggae, Blues, and Jazz – blended into a unified sonic landscape. It is evident that the album was crafted meticulously and with a lot of care, and the songs collectively explore the anxieties of living in a hyperconnected world while seeking moments of human connection.

The songs are a reflection of Benjy’s experience of growing up through the transition from analogue to digital society, his ongoing discomfort with the contradictions of digital existence, and his academic background in political philosophy.

The album features a rhythm section made up of Ben Jamieson on bass, Ray Morgan on drums, and Juan Khan on guitar, with additional contributions from local jazz artists Nobuhle Ashanti, Tamzyn Freeks, Simon Bates, and Shaw Komori, as well as guest appearances from Milan Ehrhardt and Grace Crooks.

Stretch the opening track, is a piano-driven intro that conveys a range of emotions to poignantly foreshadow the album’s themes of digital identity and existential dread. Stretch segues smoothly into the tender opening piano notes of the second single 15 Leaps before the arrival of Francis’s emotive tenor vocals. The track begins to take off when the drums come in along with some driving lead guitar power chords. There is a lovely ebb and flow between delicate melodic sections and some powerful Rock ballad moments. The track’s orchestral Rock sound driven by organs and intricate synth lines evokes Muse (circa Black Holes and Revelations) crossed with something out of a Rock opera.

Lead single Rene is a track that serves as a microcosm of the album’s genre-bending sound. It starts out with a Folkish beginning centred around gentle acoustic guitar and Francis’s introspective vocals, before transitioning to a fuller sound with the arrival of a delightful saxophone, and steady drums. The track gradually increases in tempo and transitions towards a classic Rock sound culminating in a powerful crescendo, before an ominous whispered outro from that touches on themes of paranoia and existential dread.

Stretch (Reprise) brings closure to Hindsight 2020, with a main melody that mirrors the album’s opening track, but with an ambient electronic twist that feels right in place with C418’s Excursions or the quiet part of a Boards of Canada album. The fluttering synths layered with the deep synth pads that make up the bass create an atmosphere in which anyone can find solace. The reflection of Stretch’s chord progression ties into the theme of personal growth, and looking back, with hindsight, on one’s past obstacles and achievements, and serves as a full-circle moment that brings you back to the album’s beginning.

Hindsight 2020 is a complex, reflective work that encourages listeners to experience the album as a complete sonic journey – a perfect fit for an audience ready to engage deeply with both the music and the message. This was a stimulating listen that dealt with relevant issues of our time poignantly, whilst also being an engaging and somewhat leftfield listening experience.

I highly recommend giving this one a listen as it is one of the more interesting local albums of the past year.