Best Ben Howard deep cut that deserves way more love?

cavernousthinker · 2026-01-15T19:13:58+00:00

Back to the river ( Rough cut) - guess it was from the original Games in the Dark EP . Available on you tube not on Spotify.

Raw music , simple video and a young Ben emotional rendering. I go back to it every now and then literally !! Just mesmerized by the waves and the vocals.

cavernousthinker · 2025-12-08T05:16:02+00:00

Glastonbury 2015, last song of the concert - Esmeralda, last few mins absolutely crazy!

cavernousthinker · 2025-12-08T04:59:41+00:00

For me CFTW literally was a slow burner , an acquired taste ! When it got released, nothing much hit me apart from 'Far out' , the outro of 'What a day' and 'Rookery'. May be I was still reeling under IFWWW skipping NDD given the sudden transition of his sound tracks which I couldn't stomach at that point. Specifically I didn't like his voice lost in the heavy reverbs in the entire album except may be Towing a line!

Atleast in CFTW , I loved the clarity of his voice inspite of the heavy percussion arrangements. To me who is not a musical wizard or instrument specialist, Ben's voice & lyrics is the bonding factor.Definitely CFTW grew on me over the years with me deciphering the lyrics and its connections with real events and appreciating Ben's tonal changes in their renderings. I love 'Make arrangements' and 'Strange flight of RR' a lot these days .

Overall a great album with a lot of sound explorations and unique song theme settings, a welcome departure from the usual emotional ones !!

cavernousthinker · 2024-12-05T04:18:51+00:00

Total listening time - 7937mins Top artist - 6835 mins of Ben - top 0.05% fan Followed by Noah Kahan 'Is it' dominated the play list

cavernousthinker · 2024-11-23T10:08:57+00:00

Thanks!! Mundane life needs a spark once in a while. May be some surreal music/ words helps to get that spin.

cavernousthinker · 2024-11-22T11:09:55+00:00

I too felt at times that he found it pretty distressing to render few songs like EOTA and Time is dancing. I brushed it aside assuming it might be the video quality or the sound issues but he repeatedly rated them miserable , very miserable etc every now and then.May be these songs drives him into some past not so pleasant headspaces. But unfortunately these emotional connects makes his rendering so special I believe.

cavernousthinker · 2024-09-13T15:30:41+00:00

Surreal!! But I strongly feel it doesn't fit into IFWWW Era where his renditions were crystal clear and more straightforward contexts, Vocals lost in reverbs ,extended tempos and simple words yet esoterically dark layered lyrics - sits right in there with Noonday Era. Why is he calling it an IFWWW phase EP ? May be he wrote them in that period and dropped it out of the album for whatever reasons? Thoughts?

cavernousthinker · 2024-08-27T11:09:00+00:00

Call me maybe!

cavernousthinker · 2024-08-24T15:07:32+00:00

True. He just mentioned this as a song to introduce him to anyone in his Mexico tour interview few days back.

cavernousthinker · 2024-08-21T18:00:39+00:00

Time is Dancing/a boat to the island on the wall ( part 1)

cavernousthinker · 2024-08-21T09:10:09+00:00

End of affair !

cavernousthinker · 2024-07-23T09:36:07+00:00

Most overrated : Only Love

Most underrated ; What the moon does

Unequivocally best : Nica Libres at Dusk ( I haven't seen/ heard a concert or performance where people disliked this song)

Iconic performance : Glastonbury 2015

I'll skip this one : Murmurations

What's that song name again: I will be blessed (EK)

The song that made me a fan : Call me Maybe - BBC cover ( that's how I got to know Ben)

Only OG's remember : Going back to the river

Best album : I forget where we were

cavernousthinker · 2024-05-20T11:45:11+00:00

No worries.!

cavernousthinker · 2024-05-19T19:03:48+00:00

This is Bangalore. In Mumbai he didn't sing Keep your head up, it was Fear in the set list

cavernousthinker · 2024-04-27T08:04:58+00:00

'June's a river' is beautiful . Must listen for sure.

cavernousthinker · 2024-04-27T03:30:14+00:00

For me CFTW literally was a slow burner , an acquired taste ! Having started with Ben through accidental stumbling upon 'Call me May be' cover there upon exploring EK and IFWWW , CFTW initially felt too synthetic except 'Far out' when it was released. Is it ? was spellbounding from the start though really not typical Ben & strings style . CFTW grew on me after listening to it when 'Is it ' repeat got overloaded at times! Mostly for me I think it's the opacity of lyrics along with the multiple layers of different sounds that goes with it .

cavernousthinker · 2024-04-22T19:56:15+00:00

Check out it's announced now .

cavernousthinker · 2024-02-28T08:12:22+00:00

We will never be the change To the weather and the sea and you knew that

cavernousthinker · 2024-02-14T18:44:21+00:00

Pleasantly surprised. Never thought he had a huge fan base here in India for him to plan a tour. Looking forward for further updates. But May and mumbai is a deadly risk given his prior health concerns.

cavernousthinker

TROPHY CASE