Dave Howard used to tour Canada, dropping off cassette tapes for sale on consignment at local record shops. Then, one day, he was gone. So was his Acetone organ and Max, his trusty drum machine. Some swore that he had been kidnapped by the keyboard player from Visage. Others claimed he had been silenced by the Walker Brothers to protect their own market.
The truth lay somewhere in-between. Howard had taken his punk-inspired organ act to London, where he worked with Dave Formula. As the only singer in The Dave Howard Singers, but one of two Daves locked away in Herne Hill, Howard put together the Who Is He? EP for Hallelujah! Records. Formula roped in other musicians from Howard Devoto’s circle to produce a set of songs from one of Howard’s cassettes that introduced the Canuck crooner to the UK post-punk scene.
As a solo act, The Dave Howard Singers violated The Trade Descriptions Act, but there was no question that Howard could sing. He was capable of smooth vocals that would make Michael Bublé cry with envy. Howard toured with The Lemon Kittens, showing he was able to shout to the back of venues with an intensity matched only by his processed Acetone. This was captured by Dutch TV for his next EP, Good Night, Karl Malden. A retort to the star of The Streets of San Francisco, Good Night… displayed the controlled chaos of a DHS show with the percussive accompaniment of another Canadian ex-pat, Nick Smash.
Smash’s involvement led to a meeting with JJ Burnell of The Stranglers, who produced another EP based around the David Essex track, “Rock On.” The next release featured Jon King from Gang of Four on studio duties for a recursive song featured in a Kurt Vonnegut novel. “Yon Yonson” was an ear-worm that sold little but did more than most to put Wisconsin lumber mills on the map for mid-80s arty types.
Fast forward to 2024. Howard is back in Toronto, occasionally being coaxed out for shows but getting on with adult life. A copy of the Swedish music software, Reason, opens the door for a new album. The Acetone is on leave. Max is semi-retired. What was a solo act is stripped back even further. The Dave Howard Singularity appears with Dark and for Boating, a set of mostly-new songs made in-the-box with a more ambient style.
There is one cover on Dark and for Boating, but it is a DHS track, “The Murder of Your Smile.” Originally found on the 1987 compilation, On the Dotted Line, it is a dark lounge track reinvented with orchestration. Maybe “dark lounge” is a genre that Howard should trademark, because there is no one else making twisted material of such consummate beauty. “Swept Away” makes this point directly, but songs like “In Your Eyes” show that his voice has lost none of its polish in the decades since he crossed the Prairies armed with a bag of tapes.
Dark and for Boating isn’t The Dave Howard Singers, but it is every part a Dave Howard album. It has the subversive humour and melodic inventiveness, while touching nerves at a different pace. There is nothing else like it.
The full album is available as a digital or CD release on Bandcamp: https://thedavehowardsingularity.bandcamp.com/album/dark-and-for-boating