8/10

After years away from the spotlight, the Manchester songwriter Ben Heyworth steps back into view with 'Creatures', a three-song collection that explores memory, melancholy, and self-examination with disarming charm and melodic grace.

Opening track 'Narrowboat' glides gently along the canals of Manchester, where Heyworth now resides, anchoring his musings in imagery as grounded as it is poetic. Smoky details give the song a tangible warmth, while the lyrics meditate on mortality and connection. The chorus unfolds like morning fog lifting off the water, elevated by harmonies that feel both intimate and expansive.

While 'Image of Roads' flips the script. Trading in waterways for highways, it plays out like a soft-focus fever dream of escape.The song walks a fine line between wanderlust and delusion, holding a mirror up to how we romanticise the past, or indeed, the future.

Then there’s the wonderfully unhinged 'Creature Double Feature', a kaleidoscope of carnival characters, late-night reflections, and surreal self-inquiry. It’s as if Beck crossed paths with The Divine Comedy in a pub and challenged each other to a songwriting duel. The song flirts with chaos, but Heyworth reins it in with a chorus that lands like a gut-punch: “When I look in the mirror, do I recognise myself?”

What ties the EP together is the frontman's uncanny ability to channel his eclectic influences, such as English folk, 90s indie, cheeky art-pop, into something both nostalgic and fresh. There are hints of Crowded House’s melodic ease, the emotional intelligence of Damon Albarn, and the lyrical sideways glances of Tori Amos, but the voice at the centre is entirely his own. One moment he’s crafting a love letter to Manchester’s underbelly, the next he’s tearing down illusions of identity with a wink and a synth stab.

In a world increasingly obsessed with spectacle, 'Creatures' remains quietly defiant. If this marks the beginning of a new chapter for Ben Heyworth, it’s a promising one at that. And if you’ve ever found yourself staring into a mirror wondering who the hell you are, this one’s for you.