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Ten Years Later, Clara Benin’s Concert Plays Back the Songs We Never Forgot
By Simpol |
Clara Benin, ten years after Human Eyes and Riverchild, standing at the center of a 30-piece orchestra—her quiet songs now carried by a sweeping tide of strings.
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In 2015, Clara Benin released two quiet records that outlasted the noise of their time. Human Eyes and Riverchild weren’t hits in the traditional sense—but they didn’t need to be. They lingered. They became the kind of songs you carry with you, quietly shaping your twenties, your heartbreaks, your sense of self.
Now, a decade later, Clara returns to those same songs—not to revive them, but to reimagine them with clarity and care.
Born On A Rainy Night: Celebrating 10 Years of Human Eyes and Riverchild is a two-night orchestral concert happening on October 3 and 4, 2025, at the Manila Metropolitan Theater. With arrangements by Ria Villena-Osorio and production by minsan studio, the show will feature a 30-piece orchestra—a sweeping canvas for music that began as bedroom confessions.
A decade on, Clara Benin holds the same stillness she began with—only now, her music carries the weight of ten years lived, loved, and learned.
“To celebrate, I’ll be performing songs from those records, but reimagined with an orchestra,” Clara says. “It’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing.”
The Soundtrack of Stillness
Clara Benin emerged during a wave of 2010s indie acts—Reese Lansangan, BP Valenzuela, Ben&Ben—who brought sincerity back into the spotlight. Even among her peers, Clara stood apart. She wasn’t writing for the charts. Clara wasn’t chasing trends. She was writing with stillness and specificity.
Her 2015 debut Human Eyes was co-produced with her father, Joey Benin of Side A, but Clara carved a voice that was entirely her own. That same year, she released Riverchild, a charity EP whose proceeds went to the Tapulanga Foundation, signaling early on that her music would carry not just feeling, but purpose.
“Working on these arrangements has been grounding,” Clara shares. “It’s given me a clearer sense of where I want to go next.”
A Cultural Marker, Not a Nostalgia Trip
This isn’t just a concert. It’s a mirror for those who grew up with her music.
Her fans—many now in their late twenties and thirties—remember where they were when they first heard Be My Thrill, Closure, or Riverchild. These songs became soundtracks to late-night walks, quiet heartbreaks, and moments of unspoken clarity. Human Eyes wasn’t just an album—it was a companion.
Can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “Very special two-night show. We’ve waited for this.”
According to minsan studio co-founder Jason Conanan, the process wasn’t just about arrangement—it was about emotion.“We went back to the feelings and the time when these songs were first written,” he explains. “It was important to let the music grow with who Clara is now.”
That growth belongs to us, too. What do these songs mean now—after everything? That’s the quiet question this concert asks.
The Concert as Shared Memory
Tickets for the Clara Benin concert 2025 go on sale Wednesday, July 30 via www.minsan.studio. Early bird pricing will be available for a limited time.
Prepare for a cinematic take on Human Eyes and Riverchild—orchestral, expansive, yet emotionally close. The setlist breathes new meaning into familiar lines. Stillness stretches wide, carried by strings, memory, and time.
Because the point isn’t just to hear the songs again. The point is to understand what they’ve become.
Maybe that’s Clara Benin’s quiet gift: not just to sing what we feel, but to help us feel what we didn’t yet have words for.
