In a music industry that is often ruled by computerized perfection, Martin Lloyd Howard is a rare builder of organic sound. Howard is an English guitarist who has a lot of classical background. Over the course of his career, he has added blues, folk, and rock to his musical palette. Howard’s work is marked by a devotion to instrumental honesty, whether he is playing an electric guitar or working with musicians like Mark Johnson of The Midnight River Crew.
His career, which includes songs like “The Night Train,” “Wessex Rose,” and “Lady Teal,” shows how he went from following strict rules to exploring new sounds and feelings. Howard’s newest single, “Selene,” takes us into his most private zone yet. “Selene” is more than just a song; it is a “sonic translation” of visual art.
The composition is based on a painting of the moon by the composer’s wife and is named after the ancient Greek goddess of the moon. It removes all outside noise to focus on a single, powerful voice: a fifty-year-old, hand-built classical guitar. A new guitar can’t copy the physical history of this one. The wood has been around for 50 years, so each note has a “wooden” depth and a crystalline warmth that makes it feel like a private chat in a quiet room with the moon shining through the window.
Selene
Howard makes a brave move by writing in G minor. This is a hard and unusual key for the classical guitar, yet it is very important to the song’s spirit. The G minor tonality gives off a certain “coolness” that is just like the moon’s pale, silver radiance. Howard gets the keen purity of moonlight reflecting on a quiet lake by not using more common, warmer keys. The song’s rhythmic structure, which doesn’t follow a strict beat but instead flows like a breath, adds to the mood. The notes stop, flow forward, and loop back, just like clouds moving over the night sky.
The main point of “Selene” is how much it holds back. Howard trusts quiet as much as music. He lets notes ring into each other to make a “halo of resonance.” In general, this fits in very well with our daily life. People often tell us that “more is better” and that the only way to get ahead is to move quickly. “Selene,” on the other hand, teaches us that being motionless and thinking may be quite powerful. We need times when we may “step back” and find calm in our own minds, just like the moon gives the world a constant, tranquil light when it rests. The song tells us that even when everything is moving, like the clouds that are moving, there may be a center of complete serenity.
In the end, “Selene” is a bright musical lantern that gives the soul a much-needed break. This work of art with light and shadow shows that music doesn’t have to be loud to be strong. We recommend that you listen to “Selene” in a dark room with your eyes closed so that the fifty-year-old wood of the guitar can take you to a peaceful place. Let this song be your safe place in a world full of worry.
For more songs like this, follow Martin Lloyd Howard on Spotify, Martin Lloyd Howard on Soundcloud
