Ben Howard : Collections From The Whiteout (Ltd Clear Vinyl)

Theres a line by the American writer M.C. Richards which says that even the perilous rites must be performed. That in order to become an artist, first and foremost you must create. Sometimes youll get it right and sometimes youll get it wrong, but you have to go through the process.

Its something that stuck with Ben Howard through the making of Collections From The Whiteout. Howard had always approached his albums with a clear idea of what they were going to be, be it the pastoral songwriting of his Brit award-winning 2011 debut, the electrified anguish of its chart-topping follow-up, I Forget Where We Were, or the rich atmospherics of 2018s acclaimed Noonday Dream.

The road to Howards fourth album, however, was far more uncertain.

Two summers ago Howard was driving through Portugal listening to People Collective, the collaborative project spearheaded by Justin Vernon and The Nationals Aaron Dessn