'I Forget Where We Were' by Ben Howard

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".
These pieces from the get-go are brilliant, they transcend and grow the more you listen to them, it’s an album where you take the time to listen to it, where within every track you find new elements and phrases at each listen that are or have been unnoticed and are beautiful to listen to. (If you’re an obsessive listener in the way that you listen to music and songs, it’s perfect for just that, obsessive listening.) It’s an intense album and much darker than Every Kingdom but worth every minute.


forteloud rating: 5/5


Small Things - Solo Session: 


In Dreams - Solo Session:



Charlotte

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