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:

Ben Howard: "Old Pine"

Take a walk with Juke Box Hero as he introduces us to a great track by an English guy named Ben Howard.

In listening to music, as with experiencing any art form, we allow ourselves to be taken somewhere; we follow the artist into the world they’ve created. Whether they really lead us anywhere is up to them, but that’s what’s great about consuming art: opening oneself to – nay, seeking out – new perspective, new places.

Ben Howard, a David Gray-esque twenty-something folk-popster from Devon (on England’s southwest coast), offers his perspective by taking listeners to places that are at once sweet, melodic, glimmering, shimmering, dark, brooding, and wholly enlivening. His recent debut album, Every Kingdom, is picking up steam in the U.S. and Europe after peaking inside the top ten in the U.K. Most of the beautifully constructed, nature-minded tracks buck traditional pop structure (who needs a chorus?) and are allowed more time than the average 2.5 minutes to grow and mature: What might begin as a tender, harmonic lullaby could end as a rollicking rhythmic anthem several minutes later.

"Old Pine," the opening track from Every Kingdom, is a prime example: Howard escorts the listener from a mellow hymn (perhaps a secluded hollow) to a lilting round of A and B sections (a sun-speckled forest hike?) before letting loose with the churning melodic mantra: ‘We grow, grow, steady as the morning…’ His airy tenor hovers through the verses, like wisps of morning fog burning off the wooded campsite-landscape he’s describing, until it finally soars out over the rapid strumming and a droning cello.

The "back to nature" trend in indie-pop music is immutable, with artists like Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Fleet Foxes, First Aid Kit, etc. putting fresh legs under folk influences – and being loved for it. And Howard is right in the thick of things. A friend commented that Howard’s music makes him want to take a six-month vacation of nothing but hiking, living in the woods, and being young. Many of us wouldn’t mind doing that anyway, but with Ben as a (musical) guide, we may find ourselves enjoying the trip and its destination in ways we never imagined.