“Creatures” - Ben Heyworth
Credit: copywrite Ben Heyworth
With the new EP Creatures, Ben Heyworth steps out under his own name for the first time in years, swapping out the electronic dreamscapes of This Morning Call for something more stripped back, human, and soul-soaked. And while the tech may have changed and the tempos slowed, the essential Ben-ness remains: lush harmonies, poetic lyrics, warm vocals, and melodies that melt you in under thirty seconds.
Ben is calling this new sound “urban folk,” which might sound like a contradiction until you hear the songs. Think of it like English folk for the city-dwelling dreamers — songs with a pastoral soul and a Mancunian backbone. There’s the elegant storytelling of Crowded House, the textural depth of Jordan Rakei, and the occasional left-turn that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Tori Amos B-side.
Throw in some “filthy organs” (Ben’s words, and he's right), and you’ve got a record that’s quietly confident, emotionally detailed, and entirely unafraid to be tender.
The EP opens with "Narrowboat", a hypnotic hymn to stillness, survival, and something that smells like soot and comfort. It reads like a folk poem and sounds like floating.
“I smoke a pipe and I tell no lies / Anchored down in cheap blue style / On a narrowboat in the city centre.”
It’s simultaneously literal (yes, he really does live near Ancoats Marina), metaphorical and deeply romantic. The instrumentation is sparse but rich: acoustic guitar, soft harmonies, and a rhythm that pulses like a heartbeat after a long walk home. There’s something almost sacred in how it unspools — as if each verse is a breath, each chorus a prayer.
Next up is "Image of Roads", the EP’s most sonically expansive track. It’s a dreamy detour into road trip mythology — one that plays with illusions, simulations, and the suspicion that the highway you’re flooring it down might not even be real.
“Fifty thousand and climbing / Still we carry on driving / Is this a 3-D export image of roads?”
This is where Heyworth’s musical past slips through the cracks — the echoes of his electronic phase appear in the track’s layering and momentum, but the bones are folk-rock: solid rhythm, rolling melody, and lyrics that cut deeper than you notice at first.
There’s something very British in the way the fantasy road trip is presented as suspect, or perhaps entirely made up. "We’re making up miles / Or maybe some time" hits hard for anyone who’s driven fast just to feel like they’re getting somewhere.
Credit: copywrite Ben Heyworth
The closer is “Creature Double Feature”, a sly, playful yet pensive track about the strange beings we all harbor inside, or sometimes see when we dare to look in the mirror too long. It's the most lyrically abstract of the three, but maybe the most revealing — like a carnival funhouse where the distorted mirrors accidentally show you too much truth.
Ben’s signature harmonies are in full bloom here, and the instrumentation toys with dissonance and delight. It’s got a touch of the theatrical — you can imagine this one sliding easily into a Damon Albarn side project or the score of an indie stage musical about inner demons and good coffee.
All three songs are clearly shaped by Manchester — not just the location, but the mood of the city: poetic, melancholic, funny in a deeply self-aware way. There’s love and weariness in equal measure, and a real appreciation for everyday magic — the kind you find in a stranger’s smile, a smoky pub corner, or a song written on a narrowboat as the rain taps overhead.
Creatures is a short EP with a long emotional reach. It’s personal without being preachy, experimental without being alienating, and nostalgic without sounding like a throwback. It’s music for grown-ups with soft hearts and complicated memories — the kind of record you put on when you're walking through the city alone, headphones on, hands in pockets, and the sky is just starting to bruise into dusk.
Ben Heyworth is back — not reinvented, but refined. Not louder, but deeper. And very much still a voice worth hearing.
“Creatures” is available now on all major streaming platforms
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