Nathan Ball expands his darkly graceful and melancholic sound with stunning new EP, Howling

20 April 2015, 10:45 | Written by Laura Rancani

(News)

(Nathan Ball)

The Echo EP's evocative and darkly graceful title track placed London/Cornwall-based songwriter Nathan Ball solidly alongside his alternative folk contemporaries Daughter and Ben Howard in 2014. With his second EP, Howling, Ball expands his appealingly melancholic vision. The three tracks comprising the new EP were recorded in early 2015 in Gloucestershire and Camberwell and mixed by Bruno Ellingham (Massive Attack, The Maccabees).

“Howling” is perhaps Ball's most mesmerizing song to date. Beginning gently with a serpentine guitar melody and urgent drums, the track makes a seamless shift into a state of quiet immediacy. Subtle washes of sound conjure the tensions of night time travel, calling attention to the darkness itself and everything that prowls just beyond view. The pensive “Alone” evokes uneasy sleep and shadowy footsteps: the long, slow dance of a dissolving relationship illuminated by beacons of guitar that melt into a proggy outro before slipping away. On “So Long,” Ball’s dusky vocals are enveloped in a tempest of icy reverb while cymbals crash like ocean spray against jutting rocks. We’d expect nothing less from this self-proclaimed “cold-water soul”.

Ball will tour in support of Howling. Following a sold-out show at Sebright Arms earlier this month, he and four bandmates embark upon a TV Nights residency at the historic Ronnie Scott’s in London beginning on 19 May. A festival appearance at Barn on the Farm in Gloucestershire follows in July.