Pretty: Harry Howard and the NDE

The follow-up, Pretty, is with us now, and adds further texture to the Harry Howard story. These songs have the apparent simplicity that comes from a lifetime of honing skills – the years of friction and experience that produce pearls. Much easier said than done. Lyrical and witty, with odd bursts of true poetry, Howard’s drawling voice – within which all manner of more subtle emotions are on display – rides over masterful guitar lines, Edwina Preston’s bright keyboard patterns and the tight engine-room smarts of Dave Graney and Clare Moore. Album opener Wanted to Live is relentless – a grand, lurching statement of intent, while Let Them Live showcases the harmonies Howard and Preston achieved to such brilliant effect on 2012’s debut. Sensitive (to the Cold) – a shambling old age lament – Devils, Surround Me and the wry closer How to be Kind are other highlights, but it would be unfair to single out tracks – quite simply, they’re all bloody good, a lesson in smart, tuneful lo-fi garage at its best – noisy, full of riffs and heart-on-sleeve romantic. Lyrically and vocally, there’s a real quality to Howard’s weary sadness, submitting to the iron truth that love rules our every move – which in its turn leads always to hope. Howard and the NDE are seasoned pros showing how it’s done, but there’s no showing off or indulgence: this is pop that is diamond-hard, washed in brine and then topped with some kind of evil sugar. Tempting all the way. Harry Howard and the NDE launch Pretty at the Metro on Friday, November 22 Photos: David Wadelton