Ben Gage soars with soulful simplicity in “Flyin’”

Ben Gage’s new single “Flyin'” makes you feel like you have known it all your life, even the first time you hear it. This folk-steeped gem hangs gorgeously in that golden spot between a front porch jam and a soul search. “Flyin'” sets the mood from its first notes, easygoing, earthy, and true. There is a gentle pulsing underbelly that soothes and rocks, never demanding too much but always taking you forward. Gage’s voice is genuinely heartfelt and tells the story with an effortless quality. The arrangement is essential but never excess, carrying that ideal amount of spirit as an anchor to its soul.

The magic of “Flyin'” is its genuine instruments, genuine feelings, and genuine questions. It’s a song about observing someone who appears to have cracked the code for freedom. They are floating through life with a grace that gives you pause to wonder how they do it. It’s a quiet yearning for a certain kind of peace that feels just beyond one’s grasp. The song resides in the same musical territory where fans of The Wood Brothers or Charlie Crockett might feel at home trying on its sound rootsy, with soulful elements and impossible to ignore human appeal.

“Flyin'” is entirely his own project, and that is what lends it that liberating snap of the novel. You feel as if this tune just sort of fell out, perhaps one lazy morning over coffee and open windows. Few songs feel as earthbound and aspirational as that, but that’s the sweet spot that “Flyin'” lands in. It asks you to stew on the question, pluck the strings for a bit, and perhaps, just perhaps, feel a little lighter once the final chord is over.