Brendan Benson has shared the video for "Richest Man," the newest single from his first solo LP in almost seven years, DEAR LIFE (Third Man Records, April 24). The Wartella-directed video debuted via Rolling Stone -- watch it HERE. Pre-order the album HERE, and pre-save it HERE.

"This was a very different video making experience," Benson said. "I had to pantomime the whole thing with notes from Wartella (who lives in another city), about the different scenes. I had to hold an imaginary umbrella and arrange an imaginary vase with flowers. It was all very mysterious and I had no idea if I was doing a good job or anything until it came back after being animated. Turns out I’m a pretty good mime!"

Benson’s seventh solo album and first full-length release via Third Man, DEAR LIFE was heralded by the rhapsodic first single “Good To Be Alive,” streaming now via its official video and on all DSPs. Nashville Scene noted that "the tune blurs boundaries between power pop and early synth pop, with Benson’s malleable voice... serving as the connecting thread," while BrooklynVegan praised its "'70s singer-songwriter verses and synthpop-y choruses." American Songwriter lauded the album as a whole, calling it "a collection of electrified and harmoniously erratic arrangements only Benson could concoct with 11 songs encapsulating his dynamic songwriting, bound by tight hooks and digitized beats." New track "Richest Man" followed shortly after, which Billboard called "a buoyant and brassy power pop love song" and Rolling Stone praised as "a charming ode to family life."

Benson has been live-streaming a song from his Instagram every day as part of his "Boy In A Bubble" series -- tune in at 4:20pm CT every day HERE.

WATCH THE "RICHEST MAN" VIDEO

WATCH THE "GOOD TO BE ALIVE" VIDEO

Benson finds himself in an enviable spot as he enters the third decade of a remarkably creative, consistently idiosyncratic career – an accomplished frontman, musician, songwriter, producer, band member, husband, and dad. DEAR LIFE marks this consummate polymath’s most inventive and upbeat work thus far, an 11-track song cycle about life, love, family, fatherhood, and the pure joy of making music. Produced and almost entirely performed by Benson at his own Readymade Studio in Nashville, the album sees the Michigan-born, Nashville-based artist – and co-founder, with Jack White, of The Raconteurs – reveling in a more modernist approach than ever before, fueled by a heady brew of cannabis, hip-hop, and a newly discovered interest in software drum programming. The result is an untapped playfulness that elevates expertly crafted songs like the future funk-fueled opener, “I Can If You Want Me To,” and the ecstatic “Richest Man Alive” with voluble arrangements, elastic grooves, and incandescent power. Imbued with revitalized ambition and confidence, DEAR LIFE is Brendan Benson at his very best.

“There's something about this record,” Benson says. “A friend of mine called it ‘life-affirming.’ I thought it was a joke at first but then realized, well, it’s about life and death for sure. I don’t know if that’s positive or optimistic or whatever, but that's what's going on with me.”

BRENDAN BENSON

DEAR LIFE

(Third Man Records)

Release Date: Friday, April 24, 2020

I Can If You Want Me To

Good To Be Alive

Half A Boy (And Half A Man)

Richest Man

Dear Life

Baby’s Eyes

Freak Out

Evil Eyes

I’m In Love

I Quit

Who’s Gonna Love You