Benson Taylor and James Brown: 'As soon as you’ve got that Yorkshire connection...'

Yet theirs is a friendship very much forged in Yorkshire, and it has yielded an intriguing musical collaboration. Their debut single, Church of First, is an electronic instrumental track with an accompanying video shot in Tuscanny, where Bradford-born Taylor now lives with his Italian wife and their two children. Released on the Leeds label Analog Horizons, it looks set to be the start of an ongoing partnership.

The pair first met in 2015 when Taylor approached Leeds band Pulled Apart By Horses to contribute to a soundtrack he was working on for a film about the Hatton Garden heist. “The director wanted some songs as well as the score, to work with up-to-date artists doing covers of old tunes,” Taylor explains. “There was a Clash record, Bank Robber, and we recorded that with the Horses, so we kind of met that way then started boozing and then the film never actually happened.”

Taylor, who studied under “the best film composer in the world” John Williams at university in Los Angeles, had first encountered PABH’s work via their single I Punched A Lion in the Throat. “It came on the radio and I remember pulling over and calling my mate,” he recalls. “It was such an amazing song, so my affair (with them) started a few years before, then when that project came along I reached out and (James and I) just became really close.”

For his part, Brown remembers being surprised to find a Hollywood composer was not “a lot older and American”. “This guy from Bradford who was younger than us turned up. As soon as you’ve got that Yorkshire connection...” he smiles.

Latterly Brown, who is based in the Yorkshire Dales, has been developing an interest of his own in film music, with a Mexican horror movie, The Lost Cherry Blossom, among his credits. “In lockdown I did have mental health problems and I did veer towards sorting those problems out with creativity,” he says. “What was birthed from that was scoring some short films and learning how to make electronic music with synthesisers...It felt quite natural and therapeutic.” When PAHB were due to recovene to make a new album, Brown found he was “naturally moving further and further away” from guitar-based music and quit the band.

In summer 2022 Brown flew over to Tuscanny to meet Taylor and the pair shared stories which would inspire them to write and record a session of analogue electronica and ambient compositions during the trip. “I think James has basically been coercing me over the years to do something that we can put out together,” says Taylor. “I’ve got loads of stuff out there from all these things are dotted around online, but I’ve never sat down and pressed go on putting something out. That’s where it started – James’ need to help me put something out.”

Brown brought his 1990s VHS video camera to document their travels around Tuscanny, which they’ve edited together to form a promotional clip for Church of First. “In a way, you could even say making something was born out of making this little video that we’ve done,” says Taylor. “It’s like a music video but it’s also like a little snapshot of Tuscanny where my home is. That was interesting, because we’d had loads of bits of music popping around but when we went round loads of stuff in Tuscanny in churches because it’s all so beautiful and they’re also much more exaggerated than what we do, I think that’s where Church of First was born, really.

“We had ideas for tunes we were working on and then to everyone’s annoyance in that little mini holiday, me and James just ended up in the studio pulling this (song) and video together.”

The pair believe their contrasting approaches to music are what makes this partnership work so well. Brown says: “When I sit down in the studio it’s like I’m performing the pieces rather than putting blocks together. I will just sit and play things until something happens whereas Benson was sending these folders (of soundfiles) over to me and it was insane. It was perfect. You could say it was similar to saying, ‘Here’s the gap for the guitarist, do you want to go and do your solo?’”

“Because you’re from a band, you focus on a sound,” Taylor says. “When I write music I see notes and chords. What works well between us is that once we’ve got that musicality established then James is really good in the studio at running everything through guitar pedals to get a sound that he’s got in his head. I think when those two worlds meet, that’s what we’ve done.”

“It’s why I’m sure we’ll do some more,” adds Brown. “It’s an exciting process. It’s two different worlds, essentially and I think when you do stuff like that really exciting things can come out of it.”

In the meantime, Brown is working on scores for two short independent films and a “bigger electronic release with a great label”, while Taylor is busy “working on a gangster film in London with Idris Elba”. “Gangster films are my thing so it’s double fun,” he says. “It’s my genre as well, if I was to sit down and watch something through choice.”

Church of First is out now.