Melbourne, Australia

An Australian singer/songwriter whose cinematic folk stylings have drawn comparisons to artists like Glen Hansard, Gotye, Ben Howard, and James Vincent McMorrow, Ben Abraham originally set out to be a screenwriter. The child of two Indonesian pop stars who hit it big in the 1970s with their band Pahama, Abraham grew up surrounded by music. A multi-instrumentalist with a soulful voice, he began writing his own songs in his late teens/early twenties while working in a hospital. Eight years later a seasoned Abraham was putting the finishing touches on his self-produced debut album, which featured contributions from Gotye, Tim Shiel, and Sara Bareilles. The resulting Sirens, a deeply personal collection of atmospheric and earnest indie folk-pop, was released via Secretly Canadian in early 2016. ~ James Christopher Monger