Billy Howerdel Brings the Goth, Gloom, and Glee on What Normal Was
The driving force behind A Perfect Circle’s sound branches out and delivers a unique listening experience with his new solo album What Normal Was.
Billy Howerdel, best known for holding down the lead guitar duties in A Perfect Circle, is releasing his first proper solo album titled What Normal Was. It’s an apt title for the post-pandemic world we are struggling through, although it’s not exactly clear that Howerdel is directly referencing our “new normals” as compared to our “old normals.” It’s not hard to hear homages to the emotional strain that is such a part of our daily lives at the moment though on What Normal Was. Deep strains of goth, gloom, and a few shining moments of glee, permeate the album. Throughout though, Howerdel crafts a unique blend of instrumentation that recalls the glory days of the likes of Depeche Mode AND A Perfect Circle.
It’s inevitable that any listen to an album from one of the driving forces behind APC’s sound will immediately bring to mind comparisons between the two upon the first listen. This is definitely the case with “Free and Weightless.” As an almost musical negative to the APC track “Weak and Powerless,” Howerdel’s solo track indulges in plenty of slinky bass and atmospheric guitar that more sets the scene than drives the track. Howerdel’s unabashed indulgence in synth and electronica distortion, which at first seems invasive (especially if you’re expecting early APC guitar-driven angst), becomes a kind of silvery liquid bath of soothing mercurial sound. You can hear the ghost of APC in “Free and Weightless,” but it’s a ghost that is soon exercised by Howerdel’s solo creative vision. The synths continue to dominate on the very next track “ Ari.” It’s easy to become lulled into a quiet reverie during the opening moments of “Ari,” that is until the guitar lines cut into the soupy mauldin atmosphere Howerdel’s synths conjure. Howerdel crafts something that on paper should almost be plagiarism, but makes something new and fresh from the old synth vs. guitar sound that bands like the aforementioned Depeche Mode were a master of.
The kind of guitar playing that helped Howerdel make his name surfaces on “Beautiful Mistake,” another track that is haunted by APC’s ghost. Although by this point it becomes apparent upon closer listening that it is Howerdel that haunted APC’s sound from top to bottom in most cases. The songwriting here is reminiscent of the many varying sounds of APC, but that sound is revealed to have been mainly Howerdel’s. The track that best sums up Howerdel’s songwriting and instrumentation genius here is “Poison Flowers.” It’s also where the light begins to break through the goth and gloom, both musically and lyrically.
By the time we get to the album’s last track, “Stars,” one is firmly in the type of territory that another famous guitar-wielding “Billy” leaves his listeners. “Stars” is an uplifting track that leaves the listener with an uplifting palette cleansing that leaves open the possibility of hope and joy, much like most Smashing Pumpkins albums do at their end. It’s a surprisingly uplifting track that closes out the album magnificently. It also features some of Howerdel’s best vocals. Often he sounds something like a much less melodramatic Peter Steele and a much less vamped-out Peter Murphy. This is a good thing.
How Howerdel mixes these new songs with his last (mostly) solo outing Ashes Divide will be a wonder to behold live. He’s hitting the road and bringing his new sounds with him. There’s enough here, and from the Ashes Divide days, to put together quite the live musical experience.
