61,000 monthly listeners are about to be very chipper after hearing ‘Same Mistake Twice’, the epic new album from The Howl & The Hum*. On which, Sam Griffiths explores the pain of breaking up from certain scenarios and coming out the other side, while asking the fundamental questions about perception and how a person’s remembered. Themes of anxiety and dread are navigated, as deep vocals give way to sheer clarity and honest, introspective lyrics cut through the folky indie. 

Although you’ve got a male artist here, what The Howl & The Hum offers will go down a storm with fans of Phoebe Bridgers and Gordi. And the 12 tunes start as they mean to go on; gorgeous plucked strings open proceedings on the title track, before a shoegazy pop beat comes in on ‘Dirt’. Even at two songs in, it’s got me thinking: maybe this is a fave? Subtle keys chime in, which boosts the profile of the piece I otherwise heard as an acoustic performance when Griffiths supported Elanor Moss at Mill Hill Chapel last year.

Staying on the subject of tunes played at that event, there’s the gleefully named ‘No Calories In Cocaine’. At this point on the record, Sam’s deft songwriting ability is laid bare — it’s fantastic through and through, and you’re totally sold by the stories. But the music ebbs and flows in different stylistic directions, too; for instance, the gentle ‘All Your Friends Hate Me’ has slight similarities to old-school Coldplay in the verses. Then look towards those hard-hitting guitars and heavier, scuzzier, muffled effects on ‘No One Has To Know’. This has a dark danger to it, alongside addictive, hypnotic hooks. 

I’m here for the synthy electronics at the beginning of ‘The Wheel’ that give a different vibe to the others as well. It remains soft, though, with a cool, edgy drum beat that has a scrap of swagger. An obvious contrast to the tracks that lend themselves to being stripped back. Those in that category include the picked-string delight, ‘Echo’ — another with the sort of sound you could just cry to (not in a bad way). ‘Pale Blue Dot’ and ‘Back In Time’ — the latter a bop studded with harmonious female vocals — are among that grouping as well. 

Griffiths has understood the journey throughout. And with that pulsating tempo on the finale, ‘Everything Is Not On Fire’, you’ve got The Howl & The Hum doing what the act does best. Piano keys? A violin, even? Ooh, it’s reflective music to sit and listen to with the lights off. Now, to press play again… 

If you only download one track, let it be: ‘Dirt’

*With thanks to Hanglands for the advanced stream.