BEN HOWARD

If you imagine what first song Small Things sounds like - The National on a huge downer, perhaps - then you'll already be casting your eyes down to the next review for fear of an immediate toxic reaction to cultured misery. Mind you, I like The National but hopefully you're getting my drift with the comparison - it's inward-looking intense stuff that many find beautiful and others find a drag. Things pep up on Rivers In Your Mouth but things are still sad-face, in fact the entire breadth of I Forgot Where We Were is a transcendence of dewy-eyed glum-rock that admittedly features some pleasing reverb and atmospherics, even if Howard's affected voice rarely changes gear. In Dreams has some natty guitar work on it and Time Is Dancing possesses something remotely resembling a melody (it's the album's centrepiece). The rest of the album is a borderless travelogue through the mediocre and the bland and i just don't get it.

This review also appeared on Flipside Reviews

Paul PLEDGER
18/11/2014