The Howl & Hum - 'Same Mistake Twice'
Honest, Vulnerable, and Brave. The Howl & The Hum have created a song that is sure to resonate with people.
The Howl & The Hum have returned with their first musical release since 2021. ‘Same Mistake Twice’ is a song about vulnerability, and reflection. A light acoustic guitar and kickdrum sets the tone with the exposed nature of the lyrics beginning within the first line “I never made the same mistake twice, I always aim for a third time”. When played live in Amsterdam last year as an unreleased song, frontman Sam Griffiths Explained that the song is about imagining your life as a video game, and that major moments in your life are checkpoints that you can go back and restart.
This track really is hauntingly beautiful and sombre, and capturing the essence of a youthful Sam finding his way through adolescence playing video games in Yorkshire whilst being narrated by his older self. The build up throughout the song compliments both the melody, and the story in a way that really grabs your attention. Since the rise of Sam Fender, there seems to be an increase in indie artists opting for a saxophone solo to really summarise and bring home a song, and in this instance, it’s the pinnacle of the song, and adds real emotion. When discussing the track, Sam says “The lyrics are almost too direct, which is what I wanted…It’s finding the beauty in the pain and looking for forgiveness through it all”.
Sam has taken inspiration for this track from all sorts of different avenues, and genres; from Randy Newman, to Phoebe Bridgers. It’s perhaps this diversity of inspiration that lands Sam’s creativity in a great state of expressive freedom. This song marks the start of a really exciting era for The Howl And The Hum. Sam had a period of self-reflection during the global pandemic, and in turn, what looked like the beginning of the end for The Howl And The Hum has actually turned into the best period for the band, because they have created a song that has sincere expression, and freedom. Skills of songwriting that only come with letting go of the opinion of both yourself, and others. The upcoming album which goes by the same name, features twelve tracks of a seemingly similar self-reflective nature, and is released on the 6th September.
Words by Doug Dewdney
