English indie artist Ben Howard has recently announced his new single “Walking Backwards” for his upcoming studio album Is It? set to release on June 16 via Island Records. Howard gave his thoughts on the new song: “Walking Backwards is a song to remind ourselves you are doing just fine. A small, personal resistance to the growing pressure to conform,” Howard shares. “To let go of the constant expectation that we should be striving for more and ploughing forever forwards. You are doing great, keep up the good work.” Listen to the new single “Walking Backwards” via the official video below.
Howard’s new single is a song with a lot of texture. Multiple different guitars play over each other with a constant electric beat, interspersed with synth sounds, brass instruments, and a constant hum with echoed lyrics give it an eccentric, hopeful sound. The song’s lyrics reinforce the meaning that Howard shared, with lyrics like “Some days I’m walking backwards,” and “Some days I’m almost there” communicate feelings of struggling to reach a certain point or achievement yet always falling behind, but after every setback in the lyrics, Howard sings “Truth be told / I don’t mind” to say that we shouldn’t push ourselves too hard to succeed in every single thing we do, and that it’s okay to fail or to fall behind sometimes.
The upcoming album Is It? is a branching-out for the artist, incorporating new sounds, capturing periods of Howard’s intense recovery after experiencing two mini strokes in early 2022.
The album’s track list is as follows:
01 Couldn’t Make It Up
02 Walking Backwards
03 Days of Lantana
04 Life In The Time
05 Moonraker
06 Richmond Avenue
07 Interim Of Sense
08 Total Eclilpse
09 Spirit
10 Little Plant
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