LATER FORTUNE | “LATERAL TO THE DEVIL” B/W “WIN” (DAVID BOWIE COVER) | FEB. 11th, 2022

Bio:

Their names alone spark curiosity: Later Fortune is the Philly-based duo of Chet Delcampo and Heyward Howkins.

Both are busy musicians and songwriters working at the front, back, and on stage, as well as appearing on each other’s recordings. This makes their upcoming two-song “Lateral To The Devil” single (out Feb. 11th, 2022) a rare thing. The previous Later Fortune release dropped three years ago, but patience pays.

Even at a mere two tracks and even with one being a cover (David Bowie’s Young Americans album cut “Win,” which Bowie biographer David Buckley called “one of the most gorgeous melodies Bowie has ever written”), it’s enough to underscore the taste and talent that results from decades of adulting in music.

Delcampo has two earlier album releases to his name, as well as another pair as Hong Kong Stingray, and in real life, he’s called Chris Madl. His list of current and former collaborators is long, including Kid Congo Powers, Joel RL Phelps, Dave Lovering of The Pixies, and Karl Blau (who contributes the cover art for this release). Maybe Delcampo’s affinity for an alias is an extra wrinkle to the choice of a Bowie deep cut.

“I remember hearing ‘Win’ as a kid, lying on the bedroom floor with headphones, Christmas lights flickering,” Delcampo says. “It’s just one of those implanted youth-related feelings that invoke a warm recall, and when we were considering doing a cover, I thought we could do something interesting. Hopefully it’s a fresh take.”

“I think my tween Depeche Mode influences crept in,” says Howkins, who has released two full-length albums of his own, co-founded the choral group The Silver Ages with members of Dr. Dog and The War on Drugs, and is known during the day as John. “As a kid, I practiced my singing to Depeche Mode songs. I had never heard David Bowie’s ‘Win,’ but Chet thought we could make it bold. The melody is weird, so it was challenging. I’m psyched with how moody and dark our version is.”

Delcampo is impressed.

“Heyward wasn’t initially aware of the song,” he explains. “It was a real kick when I heard him carving a space for his voice to reside and owning it.”

“My solo music is not typically electronic,” Howkins explains. “This palette gave me freedom to be more emotive and to sing out more.”

Maybe the lyric by Howkins that opens “Lateral To The Devil” also harkens back to his life-long love of Depeche Mode. It could easily have come from that band’s mid-career catalog and is satisfying in its intelligence without being too smart for its own good.

“Sat lateral to the devil, not above him more on equal,” Howkins sings over quivering electronics and a spare piano figure that gives way to pulsating bass and washes of drums. He continues, singing, “Asked if he knew what it’s like to be human, he said I wouldn’t choose it.”

“I enjoy trusting Heyward’s lyrical strengths,” Delcampo states.

Coupled with his equally powerful vocals –soulful, stirring, and silent at the right moments – the song is like porcelain. Beautiful and sturdy, but delicate and temporary. It makes the case for brevity.

Their names spark curiosity and this brief statement in song does too.

Chet Delcampo (aka Chris Madl) is currently in the final stages of wrapping up a new album as Hong Kong Stingray. Heyward Howkins is in the final stages of recording a new solo EP.

“Lateral To The Devil” b/w/ “Win,” the upcoming single from their collaboration Later Fortune, arrives Feb. 11th, 2022.