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Benét thinks of his new indie rock album, Make ‘Em Laugh, as a game of Clue. He’s trying to map out exactly when and how a relationship failed. “I was left behind romantically and I was really feeling that,” he says. “I was wondering, ‘Am I going to be okay?’ How did I get to a place where we’re not cool? Was it all me?’” You can certainly hear moments of heartache, resentment, and regret on Make ‘Em Laugh. On “Damn,” he fixates on how much he misses someone, and on “Need,” he comes to terms with the realization that a partner can’t meet his emotional needs. But despite these moments of pain, a sense of soaring optimism drives the album forward.
Make ‘Em Laugh is a document of discovery and self-realization, and is full of questions rather than answers. Open-hearted inquiry is a skill he learned in therapy, which he started going to while working on the project. “You're not going to know everything,” he says. “This world does not give you cheat sheet answers. But as long as you know what you want to know, you can get a bit of freedom from just asking.” Benét’s ability to traverse many complex and conflicting emotional states informs the sound of the music too: the album is dynamic, vibrant, and genre fluid. His warm vocals shine on contemplative indie-rock tracks like “Pieces Of Me” and “Demon.” On “Too Scared to Say,” he employs autotune to convey a sense of swirling confusion, a sentiment that intensifies on experimental electronic track “Slimmer.” Benét and featured singer AnnonXL trade off verses as the production transforms from crystalline and gentle to thrillingly noisy and energized.
Benét also really enjoyed working with the artists featured on the album. He discovered Margaux’s music when she performed at the Brooklyn venue Baby’s All Right, where he works, and was excited to realize that fans had already been connecting their work in the YouTube comments on his videos. Faye Webster is his best friend, and someone who he feels matches his aptitude for asking astute questions about relationships. And AnnonXL’s whirling, vibrant verse on “Slimmer” was so good that it pushed Benét creatively. “When AnnonXL sent their versein, I hadn’t finished the second part of the song yet,” he says. “I heard what they sent and was like, ‘Oh, I gotta go harder!’” Make ‘Em Laugh may have begun as a way to process a breakup, but, as a body of work, it looks far beyond the specifics of just one relationship. This is music that wonders about the big life questions that connect us all and that finds solace in community. If the album is a game of Clue, it’s one that captures all the insights and stories of the myriad players in the room as much as it focuses on the outcome of the game itself.