World Cafe Next: Ben Abraham

Australian singer-songwriter Ben Abraham recruited many fellow Melbourne musicians, including Gotye, to play on Sirens, his self-produced debut album. That record, which Abraham released himself in Australia, comes out internationally this week.

Another collaboration featured on Sirens is with Sara Bareilles, with whom he struck up a friendship after sending her a YouTube video of one of his songs. Abraham's music is distinctly human and direct, as you'll hear in the two songs included in the downloadable segment above.