Review Summary: Has the world gone mad, or is it me?
It felt at times like Ben Howard sang the entirety of
Every Kingdom with a smile on his face. The young Brit’s enthusiasm is undoubtedly infectious, and he brought many smiles to many listeners’ faces with his deft finger picking, unpolished delivery and natural aptitude for the memorable. While ‘Black Flies’ and album closer ‘Promise’ proved to be rare downcast exceptions, the majority of the record was so overwhelmingly positive that it sometimes worked to its detriment, just take the opening passage of ‘Diamonds.’ Throughout the first verse Howard skilfully builds a gloomy atmosphere and the foreboding sounds as though it will flow powerfully through the song’s arteries, that is, before he breaks through the clouds by injecting the song with yet another upbeat chorus. It was a theme which ran throughout
Every Kingdom, and if it wasn't his tone which maintained the positivity, then his lyrics, a cacophony of hand claps, or a chorus of ‘oh-oohs’ merrily took up the mantle instead.
Of course, reverting to type didn't necessarily make ‘Diamonds’ a bad song, nor did it cheapen
Every Kingdom or make it anything less than it was; a celebration of folk music. It hailed the steel string guitar and embraced sweet vocal melodies, and it seemed as though Howard was repaying his plethora of prestigious influences after years of indebted listening. The problem was, it felt like Ben Howard was only showing us one of his many sides. The feeling that he had more to offer and more to divulge was palpable, and perhaps most frustratingly, it was obvious that he had more than enough talent to pull it all together to craft an opus. By the end of track ten we’d thoroughly digested chapter one and even learnt it parrot fashion, but we’d only been given a mere glance of chapter two and beyond.
‘Small Things’ wastes little time in ripping the book open to its second chapter, and it’s indicative of the album’s darker feel as well as Howard’s new found comfort and confidence to bare his soul. The album’s first hook sees him postulate “Has the world gone mad, or is it me?” amidst ripples of sparse guitar and distant drums, and it’s a far cry from the Howard who beamed his way through his debut. Both lyrically and instrumentally the album descends into the abyss, and the jovial twang of the acoustic guitar has been largely replaced by the echoes of its reverb soaked electric sibling. It’s at its most potent on the tortured ‘End of the Affair’ where it builds slowly over a haunting vocal performance, and it mirrors Howard’s desperation perfectly before taking centre stage toward the song’s brilliant end. The electric guitar oscillates between minimalist and grandiose throughout, and it's difficult to overestimate the eerie power that it wields. The way it quietly underpins ‘Evergreen’ and the way it boldly shines on album closer ‘All Is Now Harmed’ attests to this dichotomy of styles, and despite its undeniably cohesive nature,
I Forget Where We Were still features more than enough variety to maintain the interest of even the most transitory of listeners.
Despite this evolution he has wisely chosen not to abandon his trusty steel stringed companion altogether, and some of the album’s highlights come when the pair is reunited. ‘In Dreams’ features an uncharacteristic energy which allows it to stand out from its peers, and it bursts out of the traps with rapid finger picking in the album’s most technically impressive offering. Elsewhere, his sole foray into the positive on ‘She Treats Me Well’ features Howard at his intricate best, and his playing manages to sound as carefree and simple as the song’s laid back theme. ‘She Treats Me Well’ proves to be an anomaly however, and the broody atmosphere covers the rest of the album like a fresh blanket of volcanic ash. More than a cursory glance at the album’s bleak cover is enough to paint a vivid picture of the contents within, and it doesn't take long to realise that this isn’t the same Ben Howard who once pleaded with us to keep our heads up and our hearts strong. Instead, this is a man who no longer seems to have any reservations about bearing all to his fans, and the sense of freedom that this has created has allowed him to release a deeply efficacious and truly brilliant album.
