Howbeit is an album of electric guitar indulgence, featuring twelve instrumental pieces. Irving leads his axe into a musical mincer and the result is a gumbo of picking, soloing, strumming, hammering, distortion and feedback over funk, minimalism, rock and a handful of tender ambient moments.



REVIEWS:


Howbeit Review - Vibrations Magazine December 2013
Adam Irving is a man who likes to do it on his own. No tittering. Howbeit is an album of his own songs, with all the instruments played by him, recorded by him and now released by him. What is it about Manchester which drives such singular creativity?

First off, you gotta like your guitar music, because this is a lot of guitar music. Each track basically consists of an underlying riff and beat with various fuzzed up or wah wah’d solos over the top. Over the top is perhaps apt, as this is, in his own words, an exercise in indulgence. You can hear the influences of Jerry Garcia, Peter Frampton and Steve Hillage as he noodles his way through such titles as ‘Animal’, ‘Nut’, ‘Horse’ and ‘November Came’. Some of the foundation riffs have been hanging around since 2009, just waiting for that moment to become fully fledged… somethings.

Robert Wright

www.vibrations.org.uk/recorded.php?fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=524



Adam Irving is asked exactly howbeit? Article from NoiseWithin Zine.
Interview and article by Damian Westbury.

The title of Howbeit could almost be used to describe the thoughts of the average listener when hearing it. It’s an instrumental album of guitar laden music. NoiseWithin caught up with Adam Irving to discuss the tracks. Its a brief conversation, which seems at points seems a little like an argument.

NoiseWithin: What exactly are you doing on Howbeit?
Irving: shining the spotlight on the electric guitar. Not as a rhythm part or as a something that sits beneath the lyrics, but as a solo instrument.
NW: But its not Jazz is it?
Irving: No, its not metal shredding either.
NW: What would you call it then?
Irving: Music for the electric guitar.
NW: Do you worry it will confuse the average listener, I mean don't you think that people still need to put the tracks into categories?
Irving; Electric guitar music isn't enough?
NW: Well not for me personally. Electric guitar music is The Strokes or Eric Clapton maybe. Who are your audience?
Irving: Well, I guess people who play guitar or who enjoy listening sounds that the instrument makes.
NW: And if you had to put the tracks into sub-categories?
Irving: Ok, if you insist on an iPod category tag for each track then Afterthought is a minimalist piece, Collateral is a free improvised thing over a drum beat, Animal is a sort of a jam, This is My Girlfriend is a Japanese lesson with guitar interludes and the rest of the tracks are made up of a central theme, tune, riff or head and solos within. None of them should be stored in the same folder as Clapton or the Strokes.
NW: I guess I’m a little confused because I’m the average listener and I -
Irving: You’re what? Nobody admits to being the average listener? What does it even mean?
NW: It means I’m within the majority of people who like the mainstream types of music.
Irving: So because the tracks aren’t mainstream you’re confused and don't like it?
NW: I guess so.
Irving: If the songs had vocals you’d be in a comfortable place?
NW: I would definitely be happier yes. Then I could relate it to the bands and artists you sound like.
Irving: Well, the mainstream to me is very homogenized; it’s like supermarket brand food. It’s functional and cheap and edible but nobody is sat around craving a tin of Tesco beans or searching their cupboards for brandless Cornflakes are they? If you aim for mass appeal you have to strip a lot of things away that people might not like. This album, if it were remade for mass appeal would have about ten seconds of guitar solos, be in 4/4 throughout, have lyrics and catchy autotune choruses and wouldn't feature me in any way.
Noise: So you don't care about the average listener then?
Irving: Not really, why should I? What’s the point in catering to the average audience?
Noise: Its the target audience of every artist surely.
Irving: The average listener moves on too quickly, something is very popular and then its not, so the Charleston or Indie or Skiffle or Disco or Rave or Dubstep is out of fashion and the average listener moves onto to something new. Bargain bins are filled with the average listeners discarded record collections.
Noise: But the average listener has the money.
Irving: Start thinking about money when you make music and soon you’ll end up wondering what the average listener will think of you.

The bewildering 'Howbeit' is released on Horn & Hoof / Mitten Records this month.




“Amazing unique melodic, raw and powerful guitar technique….an original breed of excellence”

Ciro Guandagno, Intamission Music