Ben Howard: "Black Flies"

In choosing to write about the increasingly famous British singer-songwriter Ben Howard, I was suddenly awash with a sense of deja vu. Have I penned on this talented young man before? Indeed, I have.

But that’s ok. Surely there are more than a few ways to describe his art. More performances of his to bless this blog with.

For those too lazy to follow the above link or flit off to the Wiki monster, Mr. Howard is a scrappy youngster (25 -- I have a birthday this Saturday and yes, that’s young) hailing from Devon, U.K. His heartfelt brand of indie-folk acousti-rock fits right in with the wave of outdoorsy, unshaven, kale-munching hipster-nip (Mumford & Sons, Wilco, Fleet Foxes, resurgence of DMB, etc.) continuing to sweep the planet. And that’s a good thing.

Since his last feature in this space, Ben’s released a full-length studio album called Every Kingdom that coincided with a breakout performance at the 2012 South By Southwest festival in Austin, TX. Oh, and it helped land him a PAIR of highly coveted 2013 BRIT awards: British Breakthrough Act and British Male Solo Artist. Not too shabbs.

His performance of “Black Flies” at last year’s Dutch uber-rock festival Lowlands (seriously, people will give up their entire vacantiegeld to attend this multi-day extravaganza) is a bit of a departure for him. He generally doesn’t do much with electronically boosted sound: At a sold out show in Amsterdam’s famed Paradiso venue last year, his mostly mellow and intimately engaging songbook almost didn't fit the cavernous space.

You can see/hear that for the first half minutes of “Black Flies.” And then the switch flips. The dark switch. The gut-wrenching, head-bowing, tear-jerking dark vivid emotion switch that belies something truly grim and burning going on deep inside. Here it is laid bare: raw and white hot.

Ben is such a sentimental performer, singer and lyricist that you knew that dark switch was there all along. Frankly, I think it suits him, and I wouldn’t mind seeing a little more of it in his music. But it's early in his career, and for now, I’ll take what I can get.

Not convinced his inky depths are for real? Check out this sick, sad-times cover of one of the brightest pop gems of the last decade: