Ben Howard

Ben Howard emerged from the coastal landscapes of Devon with a sound that felt both intimate and vast. His music, built on intricate fingerpicked guitar patterns, muted percussion, and his hushed, ruminative voice, rejected the conventions of mainstream folk-pop. His breakthrough album, 'Every Kingdom,' was a word-of-mouth success, its songs like 'The Fear' and 'Only Love' resonating through their organic warmth and lyrical ambiguity. Rather than capitalize on this formula, Howard deliberately shifted gears. The 'Burgh Island EP' and subsequent albums like 'I Forget Where We Were' plunged into darker, more experimental territory, featuring longer tracks, dissonant guitars, and themes of loss and memory. This artistic restlessness has defined his career, making him a musician who leads his audience into uncharted emotional and sonic territory rather than following them. He operates on his own terms, crafting records that are less collections of songs and more cohesive, enveloping experiences.