Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
NBC probe centers on staffer in shooting story error
05 Apr 2012
Tyler Perry Pulled Over, Accuses White Cops of Racial Profiling via Facebook
05 Apr 2012
"Shaken Baby Syndrome" used in defense of Trayvon Martin's killer
12:24pm EDT
Analysis: Justice Kagan--Giving liberals a rhetorical lift
05 Apr 2012
Navy jet crashes into Virginia buildings, injuring six
|
4:32pm EDT
Discussed
810
Obama confident Supreme Court will uphold healthcare law
295
Tyler Perry Pulled Over, Accuses White Cops of Racial Profiling via Facebook
290
Analysis: Justice Kagan–Giving liberals a rhetorical lift
Watched
Google sees tech in eyeglasses
Thu, Apr 5 2012
Transgender beauty says she wants to compete for Miss Universe
Tue, Apr 3 2012
Coast Guard begins sinking ghost ship
3:32am EDT
Ben Howard aims to conquer U.S. with "Every Kingdom"
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Kanye West raps of love for Kim Kardashian
Thu, Apr 5 2012
Madonna keeps pop crown, "MDNA" tops Billboard chart
Wed, Apr 4 2012
Beatles offspring could form next generation band
Tue, Apr 3 2012
All-American Rejects come of age in "Kids In The Street"
Tue, Apr 3 2012
Lambert, Shelton big winners at country awards
Sun, Apr 1 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Statecraft via Twitter
Free the Gannett 25!
Related Topics
Entertainment »
Fashion »
Music »
By Piya Sinha-Roy
LOS ANGELES |
Fri Apr 6, 2012 2:27pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British folk singer Ben Howard admits he initially struggled with his entry onto the U.S. stage at last month's South by Southwest festival in Texas because the reception was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
Howard whose new album "Every Kingdom" was released in the United States this week, is the latest in a wave of British singer-songwriters such as Adele and Mumford & Sons who are rising up record charts and being embraced by U.S. fans.
But the crowds at Howard's South by Southwest debut in Austin and in live, sold-out shows at New York's Bowery Ballroom have been mildly unsettling for the 24-year-old who grew up in the peaceful English countryside.
"Coming from the UK, you realize how quiet England is, and as soon as you get to America, it's really big and brash and loud out here, and South by Southwest was the epitome of that ... I struggled with it for a bit to be honest, it was quite a full-on experience," the singer admitted in an interview with Reuters.
Still, he has settled into a groove as he makes his way around the United States and "Every Kingdom" gains fans, much as Mumford & Sons, Adele and others did before him. And Howard credits acts such as those for paving the way for his own sound.
"Mumford & Sons have really opened up everyone's ears to music with instruments again, acoustic-based music ... it's reassuring for people like me who have been brought up on acoustic guitar," Howard said. "It's an exciting time for English music over here, there's so much great music coming out of the U.K. at the moment."
The singer cites a diverse range of musicians who inspired him, including singer-songwriters James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, rockers The Black Keys and Icelandic ambient band Sigur Ros.
Howard, who springs from the county of Devon on the Southwest coast of England, also said he drew inspiration from the rural landscapes of his home for the songs "Every Kingdom."
Living in the countryside gave him time and space to nurture creativity, and his personal life provided grist for the mill of his songwriting.
"Songs became little time periods of my life, little tales from certain periods, and you build these kingdoms and memories ... they're all little personal relationships and places that I've stored in my head," he said.
PERSONAL SONGS
"Every Kingdom" is a collection of melodic acoustic guitar tracks overlayed with Howard's unique soft voice on singles such as "Old Pine," "The Wolves" and "Keep Your Head Up."
But it is the hauntingly somber track "Black Flies" that Howard said is his personal favorite. It is often mistaken by the audience to be a heart-felt love song, while in fact it is a tale of friendship run afoul.
"We ended up doing separate things and going separate ways," said the singer. "That's what I write about most of the time, the people who come in and out of our lives and the memories that you form around them," said the singer.
Despite his initial nerves performing in front of U.S. crowds, Howard is eager to play live and prefers fans come and listen to him rather than interacting through social media, as so many artists are compelled to do in this digital age.
"I don't really like encouraging people to go on the Internet too much, we're constantly distracted with the Internet and computers ... all this Twitter and fan management kind of frustrates me," said the singer, who currently has 138,000 fans on Facebook and 61,000 on Twitter.
For his next, sophomore album, Howard said he is eager to "evolve" his sound to include more electronic guitars and possibly explore rock.
But he remains cautious about experimenting with genres such as electronica and hip hop, with which bands like Foo Fighters and Bon Iver have attempted to fuse with their sound recently.
"There's a lot of people who have murdered songs by putting crazy floor-on-the-floor beats ... Kanye West and Bon Iver did a track together and that was hideous, so I'm not going to go down that route just yet," said the singer.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Entertainment
Fashion
Music
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.