Philadelphia based songwriter Heyward Howkins has impressive circles of friends through other bands in which he has played including members of The War on Drugs and Jens Lekman’s band. Now, he issues his first full-length album The Hale and Hearty, which will be self-released. The record claims to draw from Nick Drake and Bon Iver, ambitious aspirations to be sure. While the album evidences Howkins as an emerging artist, still fine tuning his craft, flashes of Howkins’ vision do exist, emerging through those influences in his vocal melodies and arrangements. It’s certainly something that’s on our radar, and it offers some quality musical moments. We particularly enjoyed the titled track as well as “Waist High and Dry.” For those tracks, you’ll have to purchase the album over at the artist’s bandcamp page. But you can stream another track, “Spanish Moss,” below.
