When I first heard Ben Howard some two or so years back, I instantly knew that he would gain popularity with his approach on music bridging the gap between the serious talent of José González and the more laidback style of Newton Faulkner‘s first album, and that prediction has come to fruition with the success of Howard’s debut album, Every Kingdom.
Latest single The Wolves, in a brief summing up starts with a strange vocal melody that embeds itself in your skull until you’re whistling it for the next week (ooooh ooooh oooh ooh) and aside from that is most admirable for Howard’s delivery when singing passionately to fan favourite lyric; “We lost faith, in the arms of love”. If you haven’t heard Howard’s music before (where have you been?!), then he is probably best described as laidback folk. He’s hardly pushing the boundaries of being a singer songwriter, but what he does, he does remarkably well and The Wolves goes some way to proving that (although there are better tracks from his album).
The Wolves, frankly, is a strange choice for a single. Not only has it featured on an EP before Every Kingdom was released, it’s also been released as a single before and even as a fan this choice of single seems pointless, unnecessary and well from a collectors perspective, it takes the piss (which is why I’m marking it down, nice one Island Records). But while I am of the opinion that everyone has heard his music, maybe this little track will go some way to pick him up some new followers which would only be a good thing as he certainly deserves as much attention as possible.
[rating: 3]
www.benhowardmusic.co.uk/
