Sound Advice: The New Kid

Ben Kessler is kind of like a musical superhero: Normal high school student with dreams of college by day — soulful pop/folk songwriter making the rounds at progressively larger Philly venues by night. After being chosen as a winner of the Philadelphia Songwriters Project’s annual songwriting competition in May, the 15-year-old Blue Bell resident has been floating from show to show making friends and learning how to use his powers for good.

An alumnus of the School of Rock in Fort Washington, Kessler says learning music production is all about trial-and-error and watching tons of YouTube videos. “When I was 10 or 11, I found an old mixer in my uncle’s basement and I built myself a studio space,” he says. “I recorded my first album at home in my studio, and once the album was finished I asked my guitar teacher, ‘I recorded this album — now what?’ and he said, ‘Now you have to perform it.’”

So he started playing local open mics. At one place he’d make a connection that would lead to another gig, and another, and before he knew it, he was playing The Bitter End in New York City.

That victory at PSP’s songwriting contest has helped him find an audience here in Philly. “This is the first year I’ve submitted,” he says. “I was actually sitting in biology class, researching ways to get my songs out in Philly when I probably should have been studying. I found the Songwriting Project, emailed [PSP executive director] Dena Marchiony and submitted my songs.” Two of his dreamy pop tracks, “We Think We Know” and “I’m Here,” landed him a place on the PSP summer tour, which includes a spot at Philadelphia Folk Festival in August. Kessler is currently working on his first professionally recorded release, a four-song EP, at Turtle Studios in South Philly.