Hovvdy - Big World

2026 • ARTS & CRAFTS • INDIE / FOLK / ALT

84/100

Hovvdy make music for the ones who return the Tupperware to the friend who brought a meal after the baby was born, for the person you call without second-guessing when your car breaks down, for the neighbor who lingers a little too long to chat while walking their dog, for anyone who has experienced a “touchdown [in a] small town” (“Blast”). On Big World, they plug in the drum machine, dial up the catchiness, and double down on trite mantras that, dammit, really are true.

The bedroom folk-pop duo of Charlie Martin and Will Taylor started in Austin but have since relocated to Nashville, where they each work as songwriters. On Big World, their sixth album over a ten-year career, they sacrifice the cohesion of their previous two outputs. Yet the songs remain as strong as ever and demonstrate the reliability that Martin and Taylor have earned for capturing what it is to take care of each other–and even to fail at doing so.

On “What I Had,” Taylor recounts, “Look at them bright eyes looking at me for the first time since God knows when / I’m tired of looking for good / picking up bad / doing this thing how I’ve been.” Thus, in the back half of the album, his empathetic line, “I bet you made some decisions / led you down the path you’re walking today” (“Give It Away”), comes from a place of self-reflection of his own shortcomings before turning the mirror outward. Many of the songs include observations that, at first, are dismissable as surface-level. When repeated–as Hovvdy is wont to do–their potency sinks in. Even then, “Loving ain’t a feeling ‘til you give it away” (“Give It Away”) would be so corny it is cringey if Hovvdy had not spent a decade writing with such sincerity that you feel the songs anywhere you still have the mushy part of yourself.

Each Hovvdy album is an evolution of sorts, and each helps unlock the others. I could not truly access their first three albums until 2021’s True Love provided the key. Big World is no different. Slowcore infuses more of these songs, likely drawing from Martin’s collaboration with Teethe, fellow Texans who released the very good Magic Of The Sale last summer. The slowcore-pop of “Blast” descends into “Starry,” on which Martin’s vocals are mixed to intelligibility. Taylor might be eating the microphone on “Junk,” as he lists stuff I personally have observed in a barn on a Texas ranch. Before you can ask why such accouterments are lying around, he answers, “I don’t know why.” For Hovvdy, though, slowcore does not suit their material as well; buoyancy and camaraderie does.

Martin and Taylor are at their best when they have stars in their eyes for their people, backed by twangy, slacker-rock. One standout is “You Will Go Far,” on which it is easy to see Martin beaming at a friend while calling out their potential: “All your friends say / we’re in trouble / but you’re different then / you won’t fumble.” Similarly, “Try Try Try” is the spiritual cousin of “Meant”– from 2024’s outstanding self-titled album–where Taylor was grateful when he “needed you to stay right here / and you did.” This time around, Taylor is ready to return the favor: “You sleep / I drive / you laugh / I cry / you count / I hide / you’re done / I’ll try, try, try.” This give-and-take is so beautiful and comforting; I have your back, because I know you have mine, and vice-versa.

Finally comes “Wannabe (Radio Queen),” an almighty banger, for which Hovvdy is not necessarily known. When they took their shot, they made sure to hit it. Taylor seudo-raps, “Bright light / hot night / looking like a hologram,” before refraining, “Life just goes by / you tell me it ain’t / ‘cause you don’t wanna be alone / aw, who the hell would wanna be left out in the cold?” What starts as simple strumming and singing expands and explodes with massive alt-rock drumming and synths that hover before downshifting into a minor key. After years of meekly offering their observations, Hovvdy is swaggering.

Despite its title, Big World sure does reminisce on the warmth of a community so close that it feels small. Many of the songs sound like they come from sitting on the porch at twilight with a buddy and a beverage of choice and saying, “Hey man, check this out,” before counting into the chords, as Martin does on the opener “Life So Wide.” Hovvdy understands that things do not have to be complicated. What more do any of us want than to see and be seen by others?

NBA COMP: NORM POWELL

A simple game who is invaluable to his team for his lovability and commitment to his teammates.