Float away on this deliciously toned record
Subtle, conscientious and highly tuneful song-writing is displayed by Howie Beck on his new album simply entitled 'Howie Beck.' It's a beautiful array of tight and catchy strong songs, sweet like honey and phrased with a glorious precision, utilising the acoustic guitar masterfully and mixing it in with euphoric horns that sound so right in their place and hearken back to the brilliance of horn-filled Beatles numbers like 'All You Need Is Love.'
'Alice' brings the album in, with its tones and shades of uplifting melody that build with each entrance of a new instrument; drums, a 'For No One'-esque horn accompaniment and then the lilting electric guitar, constructing this brilliantly realised beauty from out of the ground. And then the album carries on from that very sturdy foundation.
'Sometimes' is what comes next, with its two-strummed notes starting it off like a kid in his bedroom conjuring little songs and then all the rest comes in and it's so warm and comforting whilst the wind blows outside, you hope to stay in forever, conversely the song would work magnificently in the summertime as you're sat outside on a deck chair and the night's sky is closing in overhead, it's really that universally lovely.
Forget Jack Johnson, this is where to come for all your male singer-songwriter needs... scrap that, this is where to come just to hear an album of really good music, it's seamlessly welcoming and encompassing the whole way through, alike to a hammock that suspends you in the air so you've the sensation of floating whilst all the while being a sure-fire prevention against crashing to earth.
This too will keep you coming back time after time to appreciate its marvellously structured snippets of sweetening moods and craftily constructed masterpieces of tranquil yet bubbling sensuality, make a space in your album collection now for this guy because I can assure you he'll be irremovably there for quite some time yet to come.
With delicate gems like 'How Do You Feel' and brilliant refrains scattered all over found in the likes of 'Don't Be Afraid', "Son't be afraid if you're all fucked up, everybody knows you'll get through somehow", and the infectious pop sensibilities of 'My Low', like an olden classic on the radio, and 'We Waited', golden and gripping and great to sway to, takes you away and puts you on a wharf watching the sun set on the horizon, this album catches you for being something new and inspiring and checks you with its utter effortless familiarity, like an old friend returning after many years, full of stories, but just the same as ever as if time had never elapsed.
In short, Howie Beck has produced something that quintessentially accentuates a relaxed warm and loving mood exponentially, and essentially is a necessity to all CD collections around the globe. It's simply a must. We've had great rocking albums from the likes of the Arctic Monkeys, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The Kooks so far this year, and here, firmly establishing a throne on the other side of the fence, is Howie Beck's album; the perfect detox, antidote to stress and rushing about, cool-off session of breeze and clouds and contemplative floating off... In shorter, get it and see for yourself.