Martin Lloyd Howard brings the landscapes of Surrey into music with “Surrey Bells,” a two-guitar composition that turns a rural image into an intimate instrumental experience. From Reigate, England, the composer and guitarist draws on classical training while embracing folk, blues, rock, acoustic textures, and alternative tunings. He explores how sound can suggest places, atmosphere, and memory.
“Surrey Bells” begins with a vivid idea: church bells carrying across a valley on a bright winter morning. Howard imagined two sets of bells answering each other from different distances, creating the foundation for the composition’s two-guitar design. One guitar occupies a more immediate space, while the other is treated with an echoing character. Their relationship creates the illusion of sound travelling through open countryside.
The recording was made at Howard’s home, where he overdubbed separate parts using his Tanglewood steel-string guitar. Although he initially considered combining it with an older classical guitar in standard tuning, he ultimately kept both parts within DADGAD tuning. That choice contributes to the piece’s resonant character, allowing open strings to create a spacious foundation for the melodic interplay.
What distinguishes Howard’s approach is the balance between composition and performance. “Surrey Bells” is deliberately fluid and organic, resisting the rigid precision associated with classical technique. The way the guitars are played becomes part of the composition. Variations in touch, timing, and articulation give the music movement, making the landscape feel imagined.
Howard’s influences help explain this broad musical vocabulary. His reference points extend from Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowland and classical guitarist Julian Bream to folk innovators Davey Graham and Martin Simpson, alongside guitarists such as Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore. Those traditions converge in an artist comfortable moving between acoustic intimacy and the expressive possibilities of rock guitar.
His catalogue focuses on instrumental works designed to evoke landscapes, images, and moods. That philosophy gives “Surrey Bells” significance beyond its immediate subject. The piece is not simply about church bells; it is about distance, listening, place, and the quiet emotional recognition that can arise from familiar surroundings.
“Surrey Bells” demonstrates how a carefully shaped guitar arrangement can transform an everyday sound into a vivid musical landscape. Howard allows the two instruments to converse, creating depth and space where memory can linger. The result is a reflective work that invites listeners to pause, listen closely, and discover the countryside through sound.