This is Benjamin Clementine’s “long-awaited third album,” says the record company blurb accompanying And I Have Been. “Indeed this is not an album or my third album because that’s already recorded and will be released possibly early next year,” said the enigmatic Edmonton pianist on Instagram in June.
So who’s right? It certainly looks like an album, with Clementine and his cheekbones gazing seriously out of a thick blue frame on the cover and 12 songs within. And those compositions are certainly songs as we tend to define them, with verses and choruses and multiple memorable tunes. Maybe that’s why he’s hesitant.
