Minute Taker

Minute Taker
Minute Taker performing live in Manchester, October 2012
Background information
Birth name	Ben McGarvey
Genres	folktronica, dream pop, alternative, synthpop
Occupation(s)	singer-songwriter, musician, music producer
Instruments	vocals, piano, synthesizer, guitar, glockenspiel,
Years active	2008–present
Associated acts	The Spiels
Website	minutetaker.net

Ben McGarvey, known under the stage name of Minute Taker, is an English singer-songwriter, music producer and multi-instrumentalist whose style has been described as folktronica. To date he has released 2 albums; Too Busy Framing (2008) and Last Things (2013). McGarvey also composes for theatre.

McGarvey grew up in Shropshire His interest in music began at the age of 12 when he started playing an old piano in the basement of his family home. After having some music lessons he decided that he preferred playing by ear and began writing his own songs. He went on to study contemporary music at university.

Following university McGarvey moved to Manchester where he wrote and recorded songs in his bedroom. In February 2008 he self-financed his debut album Too Busy Framing (released under his own name). Clash described the album as "carefully constructed, layered compositions with as much in common with Múm as David Gray and his ilk".Manchester Evening News described McGarvey's songs as being "full of strange, hypnotic loops and samples, and the lonesome, existential imagery of his lyrics brings to mind a young Morrissey".

McGarvey has described how he sampled gay porn movies for one of the album's songs "Lust", "creating the song's rhythm section from sounds created during intercourse".

Another of the album's songs "Disjointed" references serial killers Fred and Rose West. McGarvey has said that the song was written "from my perspective as someone who, at the time, drew a parallel between the story of Fred and Rose and my own relentless search for a partner".

In 2013 The 405 retrospectively praised Too Busy Framing stating that "As far as debut albums go, it remains an underrated hidden gem and continues to age rather well."

In 2010 McGarvey formed a band called The Spiels (an abbreviation of "glockenspiels") with singer-songwriter Ryan Lamey. The pair originally met when Lamey recruited some of McGarvey's backing band members for his own solo project. They later came to work together when Lamey replied to an advert McGarvey placed on Gumtree looking for musical collaborators and the project evolved into a 5 piece band). Manchester Evening News described their music as "alternative folk-pop of infinitely dark hue" comparing their work to that of Arcade Fire, Kate Bush and Antony and the Johnsons.