Howells is a group from Calgary, Alberta, Canada that recently released their second EP entitled Burgeon. The four-piece band which is fronted by Benjamin has a lot of different things going on with their music. They state on their website, they are a “sonic chameleon” and I would have to agree.
They open with “Entropy” and at some point I would love to hear an entire album or EP in this style. This a soundscape and quite a beautiful one at that. It starts with an ascension of sorts as if you could hear yourself wake up from a dream. There are ambiguous vocals that lurk like ghosts in the past. Soon enough the song starts to crystalize and out of the elements it was the piano that had my attention. The sublime piano melody reminded me of Sigur Rós, one of my favorite bands. The next song “The Good Side Of 25” was a great tune but really wasn’t what I was expecting after “Entropy.” This tune if you stripped it back to guitar and vocals could be a bluesy/pop song. It’s sort of the atmosphere and pads which give it a different contemporary feel. The vocals are soulful and well executed. There is no denying the catchy hook and the impressive lead guitar that comes towards the end of the song. “3:33” is up next and this song felt more aligned with “The Good Side Of 25.” There are some cleaner elements and the vocals are delivered in a different way. It reminded me of the way boy bands would sing in the ’90s for about the first minute. As the song progresses his affectation does mutate and by about a minute-and-a-half he sounds a little more loose and just has a different way of forming his words. There are also well implemented vocal effects which aren’t overdone. Up next is “Jenelle” which is a much more rock based song than anything that came before. I thought it was the highlight and repeat worthy. The more organic drums and rock based singing style seems to work very well for the band. It felt like the most single worthy song in the batch to my ears. They end with “On My Way” which is more electronic sounding and actually the most pop oriented track. The band is definitely a sonic chameleon (some of that may be due to the fact they have formed recently). So much so I had a hard time defining their signature sound because they flirt with a number of different genres. The cleaner, lush elements are a consistent factor and there is no doubt the singing is great across the board. The multi-genre band has a sound that I think a lot of people would appreciate for different reasons. Take a listen.
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May 2024
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