Student Musically Pursues His Passions

Parker junior Benji Gourdji releases music under the moniker “Benji the Machine.” Recently, he released his third album, Vista. He started writing music as a freshman and released his first two projects, The Sad Boy Tape and Benji the Machine, during his freshman and sophomore years. Gourdji produces, writes, sings, engineers, mixes and masters all his music, and, each project has produced improved songwriting and production quality. 

On The Sad Boy Tape, Gourdji’s music was a somber blend of pop and R&B, consisting of pianos, guitars and other acoustic instruments. On his self-titled album, he introduced upbeat songs, like “Shadows/Faces” and “Prescription.” He released Benji the Machine after working with music teacher Alec Synakowski in his songwriting class and learning new production techniques. He then released several singles, including the very topical “Social Distancing Song” with sophomore Mia Wichman and “Off the Leash!” with junior Sam Meiselman-Ashen. 

Gourdji’s newest album, Vista, is his first conceptual project. Each song offers a different perspective, detailing various social experiences. The melodic motif that opens the album, the bass line on “Don’t Keep Testing Me,” appears throughout the album to represent the interconnectedness of everyone’s difficult social experiences. On Vista, Gourdji’s production and songwriting matured. In addition, he experiments with new genres, including experimental hip hop, trap, ’80s synth-pop, R&B, psychedelic rock, emo rap and more. The album features singing from junior Will Ehrlich, 8th grader Josh Gourdji (listed as “Kid Kato”) and bass guitar from junior Carter Wagner. The final track, “Finale,” reprises the main melodies from each of the other songs on the album. 

Check out the new album on Spotify.

More on Benji and his music available at benjithemachine.com