One year after Rowland S Howard passed away
‘Sometimes people are ready to go because they have been sick for a long time, but Rowland really wanted to live. Things were going well for him outside his health and he wanted to take advantage of that, and he was very disappointed that he wasn’t well enough to do so’
Mick Harvey
The best proof that Rowland S Howard was doing well - outside his health - is probably the album Pop Crimes, that came out in 2009 in Australia, but we had to wait to hear it untill this year.
Howard doesn’t sound like the angry young man from The Birthday Party anymore (fortunately), but Pop Crimes was definately one of the best records we got to hear in 2010. the tone of his guitar was not as piercing anymore, but his melodies still were.
A Girl called Jonny is an awkward opening track, not in the least because of the contribution of Jonnine Standish, the singer of HTRK, a band with whom Howard was working the past couple of years. The result sounds a traditional pop song, being it one with an unusual sarcastic tone - a tone that stays there throughout the entire record, the track Wayward man probably being the best example. Though Howard’s version of Talk Talk’s Life’s what you make it, guarantees a unique listening experience as well.
a personal favorite is ‘Avé Maria’, unusually quiet, and the part that starts around the 2’40 mark alone is worth picking up this album.
Pop Crimes could have been the best comeback-album in years, unfortunately, it was Howard’s goodbye album.
