I Forget Where We Were
By Ben Howard
Release Date: 20th October 2014
Tracklist: Small Things / Rivers In Your Mouth / I Forget Where We Were / In Dreams / She Treats Me Well / Time Is Dancing / Evergreen / End Of The Affair / Conrad / All Is Now Harmed //
I Forget Where We Were, is Ben
Howard's second album, released three years after his debut
album Every Kingdom. I Forget Where We Were is
darker, both musically and contextually where it embraces a melancholic mood
and discusses themes of love and loneliness. It feels less collected and
controlled compared to Every Kingdom; it evokes much more
depth and makes the themes increasingly more ambiguous in their
meaning. The style for the majority of the album evolved from his EP Burgh
Island, where he moved from acoustic to electric guitar and created a
new soundscape for his music. The intensity that was already inherent in his
first album from the use of his voice is now amplified further from the pedal
effects and electric guitar.
This album
becomes a further exploration of Every Kingdom by
the fingerpicking acoustic style that was consistent throughout his first
album, while he experiments with reverb and delays on electric guitar with
sonorities that echo throughout the tracks. While they excel from where his
voice has been recorded close to the front of the pieces accompanied by
harmonies from his band.
I Forget
Where We Were opens with Small Things where he
still uses his acoustic guitar but plays around with pedals and effects to give
this song a darker atmosphere. The quick fingerpicking style that is a
characteristic reminder of his first album, Every Kingdom, is
an element within this song. "Has the world gone mad / or it is me? /
All these small things / they gather round me". Following this, is Rivers In Your Mouth, it begins
as one of the more up-beat tracks on the album, "Hold it in love /
The river in your mouth is pouring out / Water takes the / Shape of all that it
surrounds", while it then shapes into an atmospheric instrumental
tangent after the concluding lyrics of: "I am not myself / Today /
I am not feeling / Okay // And you / Showed me hope amidst the
harlequins in spring / And you / Told me life was learning how to be your
friend", that then slowly fades down and out focusing solely on
his guitar.
In Dreams is one
of the tracks within the album that is most similar to his first, in many ways
it is most comparable to Black Flies, it’s darker and more
ethereal which fits perfectly into the style of this album, “And I may be
troubled, but I’m gracious in defeat”. It is consistent of his original
fast picking guitar parts, just like certain parts of Small Things and She Treats Me
Well.
Time is
Dancing is one of the pieces on this album that I had/have an
obsession with. It's enchanting, although this entire album is darker, less
uplifting than his first and as Ben Howard himself put it:
"Almost too serious". This piece has elements that feel
rejuvenating, where he sings, "Hold it in, let's go dancing / I do
believe we're only passing through", it gives you a chance to forget
or let things go even if only for a moment. It's an addictive track that's
captivating from start to finish, where it continuously changes soundscape and
texture, with memorable guitar lines sifting throughout the piece.
End Of The
Affair was his first single from the album. It's a beautiful piece
with great intensity that slowly builds throughout the track. This intensity is
created from the atmospheric soundscape created from the spaced-out echoing
electric guitars and the closeness of his voice. I found it surprising when I
realised that the track is seven minutes long, as it passes so quickly, from
the sparse introductory section that lasts up until the 4 minute mark where it
then progresses through to a coda where the rest of the band are introduced. It
moves through to what feels like this cacophony of sound and emotion, where his
voice takes over singing tortured words, "This is it? / Well this is
desert / And what of him? / What the hell love / What the...".
The
concluding track on the album, All Is Now Harmed, is a solid
end to the album. It’s use of close-miked drums and its quiet effortless build
throughout the song adds to the surreal aesthetics of the piece, where it then
slowly fades to an end with the same guitar melody that the track began with.
His lyrical content is intimate and as abstract as it was in his previous
album, with beautiful lines such as, "But it's in
your nature / Blooms inside your blood / Hold me in harms way baby / All is now
harmed".
forteloud rating: 5/5
Small Things - Solo Session:
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