The Melbourne trio that is Howlite began to bless listeners with their blissful and whimsical pop-inspired sound back in 2016, with the release of their debut single ‘Storm Chaser’, which teased the arrival of their debut EP Reasons, which served as their following release.
The Reasons EP did a very good job of getting across the moody aesthetic of Howlite, and each track definitely came across as music that you can really feel.
Although Howlite got off to an extremely productive bang in 2016, their releases within the years of 2017 and 2018 came in the form of a few more singles, and finally, a collection of different versions of previous songs, titled Redux, to essentially round up all that Howlite had done up to that point.
And from then on, a new musical chapter began for the band; one that had been leading up to the release of their sophomore EP and their newest release titled Not Here.
In the year of 2019, all the way through to the present year of 2020, Howlite has been releasing a bunch of tracks, that each serves as teasers for this new EP, whose release dates spread out evenly across the period of this project cycle. The first of these five teaser tracks was the deep yet energetic ‘Reducer’ which clearly showed a sense of evolution in Howlite’s sound. ‘Olympia’ was the following tune and the last to be released in 2019. Standing as a continuation in displaying Howlite’s whimsical depth, this track is slightly more downbeat and immersive.
The band seem to evolve even further in 2020, by implementing their deep and atmospheric musical craftwork into an even more pop-inspired frame, which allows their three 2020 single releases to stand amongst the most accessible sounds from Howlite to date. Both ‘Infancy’ and ‘Stranger’ have an equal measure of moody undertones in their own right, while the most recent teaser ‘Canary” is a more dreamy and soaring tune that listeners are bound to get lost in.
And while the five aforementioned tracks make up the bulk of what to expect from the Not Here EP, there is one final brand new track that fans can sink into; not only is ‘Blood Type’ a perfect closer to this EP but it too carries an incredibly unique and nocturnal trip-hop style beat.
After almost two years in the making, Howlite’s sophomore EP beautifully encompasses their growth and productivity over the past two years and the fact that a worldwide pandemic hasn’t stopped this awesome project from arriving this year only deserves extra points. Not Here is an amazing listen for anyone who wants to listen to a pop sound, but with a little more uniqueness and kick.
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