Last week Ben Howard released his newest single Towing The Line – taken from the upcoming album Noonday Dream

Ben Howard will return with a new record, Noonday Dream, on the 1st of June. Fans were left in the dark since his 2014 masterpiece I Forget Where We Were, until recent single releases and social media teasers over the past 2 months.

The new album was recorded at various different studios and was self-produced, further showing the seemingly endless talents of Ben Howard.





The hazy and delicate Towing The Line does a brilliant job in showing Ben Howard’s evolution as an artist and how intent he is on taking new directions. A trait which is both unusual and refreshing in modern popular music. This label may cause some disagreements, but with both of his albums featuring in the top 10 of the UK charts, referring to him as popular seems justified. Folky guitar fingerpicking can be heard throughout the song, reminiscent of earlier singles like Three Tree Town. However, filled with reverb and eery sounding string backing, this track shows that Howard is not replicating anything from the past but creating something unique.

His calm vocals are stunning and not dissimilar to the darker songs from the second record. Encompassing so many different qualities of a top musician, Ben Howard’s 3rd LP and subsequent tours are bound to be memorable.

His earlier music, namely debut album Every Kingdom, often mulled over everyday troubles with a slightly more sorrow tone when compared to his contemporaries. His recent two singles display his move away from the traditional troubadour style. His pre-album days in which he would play to crowds on his guitar along with cellist India Bourne seem to be gone, with his new music exploring textures that require a much greater backline.

Although it is impossible to fully judge Howard’s evolution at this early stage, we look forward to listening to the full album in depth on June the 1st.

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