In The Open

Released in late 2012, In The Open serves as a bridge between Benjamin Francis Leftwich's debut 'Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm' and his later, more produced works. This EP represents the artist at his most distilled and skeletal. Recorded with a focus on 'Manchester Snow' and the title track, the collection emphasizes his signature breathy, double-tracked vocal style which became a hallmark of the early 2010s UK indie folk scene. Critically, it was noted for its consistency of tone, never breaking the hushed spell it casts over its 16-minute runtime. The track 'Manchester Snow' in particular solidified his reputation for using northern English geography as a backdrop for universal themes of longing and distance. While his later work would experiment with electronic textures and pop structures, In The Open remains a definitive document of his purely acoustic, 'winter-folk' period.