Ben Howard 'Every Kingdom'

Every Kingdom is Ben Howard's debut album. Ben Howard is an acoustic artist from Devon, his music is described as folk especially since many of his influences include the likes of Joni Mitchell, Donovan, and Richie Havens. 


He's been surfing since he was 11 and in his music you can hear the laid back feel of surf rock/folk as well as being able to picture the ocean and beach whilst listening to his music.


The whole album has a very relaxed feel about it and is currently one of my favourite albums. 






Track Listing

1.	"Old Pine"
2.	"Diamonds"
3.	"The Wolves"
4.	"Everything"
5.	"Only Love"
6.	"The Fear"
7.	"Keep Your Head Up"
8.	"Black Flies"
9.	"Gracious"
10.	"Promise"
11.	"Seven Bottles" Old Pine was released as the albums first single and still remains my favourite song on the album. Ben Howards guitar technique is a wonder to listen too as he developed the technique of using his knuckles to hit the body of his guitar in between strums to create a percussive effect, this technique is also used by other acoustic artists such as Newton Faulkner. I must admit, listening to his singles such as Old Pine and The Wolves gave me high hopes for this album but some of the songs don't quite meet the standard set by these singles. 'Only Love' is one of these songs; the guitar riff and back beat is all there but it is let down by the way the vocal line is written in the versus (my opinion). Unfortunately the rise of Ben Howard has been overshadowed by Ed Sheeran. On paper both these artists are very similar but by listening to them you can hear a strong distinct difference between the highly commercial ginger nut and the homegrown surfer boy from Devon. I believe that Ben Howard is one of the best singer/songwriters around at this moment in time and I hope that a second album is in progress. If a new album is in the working I hope that he can fix some of the problems that are seen on the 1st album because I believe that this man could have the world in his pocket very soon. Old Pine <--- My Favourite song, take a listen. Josh K.