A Very Nice Debut Indeed: Review of The Hale And Hearty

Philadelphia artist Heyward Howkins released his debut album this week. It arrived in my inbox a few weeks ago and I knew nothing about him, but I decided to give it a listen and was instantly surprised. I've known the Philadelphia music scene to be mostly just the DC hardcore scene mixed with some pop punk. The days of Philly soul are long gone. That guy from The Hooters still plays "And We Danced" on local radio stations from time to time. The Philly scene has been quiet on the national stage for some time. That's why when Howkin's album turned out to be dreamy indie pop, I was surprised. When it turned out to be pretty good, doubly so.

There are no rough edges on the entire album. It's spare, to be sure, but the few components to each song seem to fall perfectly in place, the album's never over produced though, because that would be the worst. You can still hear fingers slide across strings of a guitar, sharp inhales getting ready for the next verse. I hate it when people try to get music down to just the music and get rid of all the other little things like that. Hearing the singer breathe makes it feel more personal, like someone just trying to put his or her feelings out there. It lets you hear the music and not the production all the time.

Howkins' voice is light and gentle, but never fragile. You've probably heard a voice like his before, and you probably liked it. It's very easy to listen to and matches his musical style. The guitar sounds are spare, but textured. If you play guitar, it sounds like the notes, wherever possible, are played on low strings, but high frets. It makes them sound throatier and thicker than if you play it on the thin strings. That's a good analogy for Howkins' voice too.

Sometimes, he does venture into a more fully orchestrated song, like later in the album with "Plume And Orange" it has full drums, affected as to not offend the ear with their incessant banging, guitars, piano, a brief appearance by a wurlizter organ (or fake wurlitzer organ). It's a wide departure from "Thunderin' Stop", the first track on the album, The Hale & Hearty has enough in between to link the two so nothing feels out of place.

Clocking in at just over half an hour seems like another way this album tries to be as nice as possible. No song overstays its welcome, averaging about 3 minutes for each, considered to be the perfect length for a pop song for years. If you like nice, The Hale & Hearty is very nice. If you don't like nice, what's wrong with you? Who hates nice?

Heyward Howkins debut LP The Hale & Hearty can be purchased on his Bandcamp page, here:
http://heywardhowkins.bandcamp.com/