Back in 2011, Ben Howard and Ed Sheeran released debut albums a matter of weeks apart. On the surface, they had plenty in common: both sang, played guitars and seemingly cut their own hair. Seven years on, they couldn’t be more different.
While Sheeran has embraced the spotlight, Howard has positively resisted it. His third album, 2018’s Noonday Dream, is a sprawling masterpiece, as inspired as it is uncompromising.
Last night’s show at Brixton Academy — the first of four nights at this 5,000-capacity venue — was characteristic of an artist who likes to do things differently. Howard and his band were backlit, covering their faces in shadow, while every song in the 90-minute set extended well beyond the five-minute mark.
The 31-year-old Devonian played every track from his latest album. Nica Libres At Dusk was a sweeping orchestral epic, while A Boat To An Island On The Wall was a slow-building thunderstorm of a song. Howard’s band has now expanded to include two drummers and a small string section, but it’s his dextrous guitar playing and mellifluous voice that were front and centre. On the brooding and brilliant Someone In The Doorway, he sounded like a 21st century John Martyn.
He can write a fan lyric, too. On the dainty but delightful Towing The Line, he sang: “Love is in the early mornings / In the shadow under the trees … Down here I crow for you / You crow for me.”
Howard could have leavened his set with a few quicker-paced numbers from his big-selling debut, Every Kingdom. Would it really be too much to ask to throw in Only Love or Keep Your Head Up?
But that’s the smallest of criticisms. What’s clear from last night is that Howard is becoming one of Britain’s best singer-songwriters, and more people should be tuning in — whether he wants them to or not.
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