It's been a long time coming, but yesterday finally saw the radio and online debut of singer/songwriter Ben Howard's new track, End of the Affair. After the success of his first album Every Kingdom and of the Burgh Island EP, as well as new material being played at recent festival appearances, anticipation for new studio releases has been building.
First played on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show last night (05/08/14), End of the Affair is a whopping 7 minutes 49 seconds long. Listen to it below:
With this song, Howard has moved on from the happy-skipping-through-fields melodies of Every Kingdom, to a much darker approach, which we first heard on the Burgh Island EP. The first 4 minutes 50 seconds are a slow build up with plenty of bass notes supporting the lighter plucks of his trademark acoustic guitar. There's a feel of stormy nights - perhaps a hint of pathetic fallacy - and he even mentions "the thunder's rumbled sound". Admittedly, it's easy to get a bit distracted during this first half of the song, but until you really pay attention you don't realise the true subtle beauty of it. As you get past the five minute mark, the pace picks up and drums are introduced, providing a strong backbone for Howard's ever dramatic vocals as they ask "What the hell?!" as though they're the last words he'll ever speak. I imagine this latter part of the track being ridiculously fun live; the atmosphere created through the instruments and echoes drags you into the depths of thought and emotion and whatever Howard was going through as he wrote it. Honestly, this song is beautiful. Listen to it, then listen to it again. Then tell a friend to do the same. Pass the genius of it onto as many people as you can.
Written by Molly McGrath
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