Following on from the release of ‘What A Day’ and ‘Crowhurst’s Meme’, Ben Howard has dropped ‘Follies Fixture’ and ‘Far Out’, two more singles from his forthcoming project ‘Collections From The Whiteout’. The 14-track LP is set to be released on March 26th by Island Records and will be the singer-songwriter’s fourth album.
As with his two previous singles, Howard’s new tracks reflect his distinctive brand of dreamy indie folk that first appeared on his now double-platinum debut album ‘Every Kingdom’ nearly ten years ago. The Totnes-based vocalist has continued to develop this distinctive folk sound and these new promotional singles provide no exception to that rule.
Comprised mostly of disparate, poetic images intertwined together, ‘Follies Fixture‘ illustrates the increasingly surrealist nature of Howard’s lyricism. Accordingly, Howard’s lyrics throughout the song are often both cryptic and minimalist, as demonstrated in the song’s pre-chorus: “Fox, hare, kestrel skull/ The movement large/ The weather dull/ Pick again until the cards can form our meaning.” Whilst discussing the track’s subject matter in a press release, the singer-songwriter explained, “’Follies Fixture’ is a love song. It deals with an apathetic period of my life searching for routine in Paris.” Notably, the autobiographical single is also the opening track on ‘Collections From The Whiteout’, and thus may set the scene for some of Howard’s most personal material to date on his upcoming album.
‘Far Out’ similarly exhibits the 33-year-old’s characteristically poetic song writing but does so against the backdrop of a completely different soundscape. As opposed to the stripped-back instrumental and arpeggiated synths of ‘Follies Fixture’, ‘Far Out’ is driven by expansive instrumentation and swirling guitar riffs. In a press statement, Howard described both the inspiration and meaning of ‘Far Out’: “The song is essentially a critique of how easily people are drawn to violence and animosity without reason, just to pass the time. And ultimately how there is perhaps a simpler, more fulfilling path. I wanted it to have a very British rhyming slang feel and a Roald Dahl sense of macabre humour.” Filled with sharp-witted lyrics that feel as if they could have been lifted from a British post-war novel, the track undoubtedly succeeds in creating the effect that Howard intended it to. Perhaps the best example of this is Howard’s pithy description of a bemoaning grave digger: ““Time to make a new plan”/ Said the gravedigger man/ “How am I to make a killing/ What with all of this living?/ It’s abysmal the state of the union.””
Alongside the release of ‘Follies Fixture’ and ‘Far Out’, Howard announced two London shows at the Royal Festival Hall on September 18th and 19th 2021. It will be the singer’s first time playing in London since selling out four consecutive nights at the O2 Brixton Academy in January 2019. Tickets for the shows are scheduled to go on sale on March 5th via www.benhowardmusic.co.uk.
