Falling Backwards

Description

*Falling Backwards* is the debut album by the duo Him & Earl, released by the label Wah Wah 45s. It offers a mystical blend of desert blues, English folk, Americana, and poignant Southern soul, while venturing into psychedelic and progressive rock over eleven tracks with a warm and hazy atmosphere. Singer-songwriter Olly Him and DJ, producer, and composer Wyndham Earl are both deeply rooted in the south coast of England; Olly made a name for himself solo before exploring his folk-soul sound with progressive accents in various live formations, while Wyndham has collaborated and shared the stage with artists such as Bonobo, Khruangbin, Alice Russell, and TM Juke, had his remixes released by Tru Thoughts and Mr Bongo Records, and released his personal projects on his own label, Time Spun. The duo met in 2015, while Wyndham was producing tracks for *Creatures Of The Deep*, a now-defunct hypnotic afro-folk group of which Olly was one of the founding members. The chemistry was immediate, but after the band's breakup, it took a few years for chance to bring them back together; a chance encounter at a concert led them to consider creating a full album under the name Him & Earl, with Olly writing the songs and Wyndham handling arrangements and production. After floating in a sort of creative ether for a long time, the unifying force of these songs revealed itself with striking immediacy. The very first concert of Him & Earl, in early 2026 - when no tracks had yet been released - far exceeded Olly and Wyndham's expectations: their quintet found themselves facing a packed and electrified room. On that cold January evening, the audience - a crowd of ecstatic music lovers - danced to the rhythm of percussion duels, was swept away by psychedelic guitar and bass flights, and sang along to choruses of which they had never heard a single note before. Since then, the first two singles, "Bottled Up" and "Away," have received prime airplay, notably thanks to Huw Stephens and Cerys Matthews (BBC 6 Music) as well as John Kennedy (Radio X), adding to the widespread support from tastemakers and specialists around the world as anticipation for the album grows. The introspective and philosophical lyrics of the album come to life through a sound palette that is both rich and strangely exhilarating, subtly transforming into a dark yet propulsive psychedelic and bluesy journey. The opening track, "Away," directly addresses a central theme of the record - the journey, both physical and mental, as well as the quest to move forward and embrace the unknown; its sunny guitars, trumpet, and violin merely hint at the tumultuous sonic adventure about to unfold. The title track, "Falling Backwards," gives a more revealing clue: its elegant intertwining of *staccato* (finger-played) patterns, fluid piano melodies, and strings unfolds into a six-minute exploration. Olly describes the experience of "living a daily normality while feeling on the edge of chaos, with the sense that everything could collapse at any moment: a myriad of elements hold it all together, but if just one falters, everything can shatter around it."