Martin Lloyd Howard’s latest original composition, “Unanswered,” arrives as a delicate, slow, and contemplative meditation for solo classical guitar. Howard, an English guitarist rooted in classical training, has long expanded into folk, blues, rock, and everything in between. He has built a reputation for making expressive guitar pieces that speak without ever needing a voice. After years of work across electric and acoustic ensembles and collaborations with artists like Mark Johnson of The Midnight River Crew, he returns here with something intentionally stripped back. “Unanswered,” available on SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify, leans into space, clarity, and stillness, inviting listeners to sit with the emotions that don’t settle easily.
Anyway, once the piece begins, “Unanswered” opens with slow, glistening acoustic guitar strokes. They are soft, measured, almost translucent, ringing out across an expansive, open surface. Each note feels carefully placed, like footsteps in fresh snow, and the crystalline tone reinforces the sense of questions suspended mid-air. Howard keeps the tempo unhurried, letting the strings breathe, letting every chord bloom and fade naturally. The melody hovers in its contemplative and unresolved ways, taking in a review conversation with silence itself.
The chord structure adds to that lingering, questioning quality, rising and falling in quiet waves that never quite resolve, giving the piece its name in spirit as much as sound. There’s a calmness here, but also a searching energy—as though the guitar is trying to articulate something just out of reach. Howard’s touch is feather-light yet precise, allowing the harmonics to shimmer while the lower strings create soft, grounding warmth.
By the time “Unanswered” comes to its final whisper, the listener is left with more feeling than conclusion, which, truth be told, seems exactly the point. Figure out what unanswered question is going unanswered in Martin Howard’s chords on Spotify.
STAY IN TOUCH:
SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE
Review by: Naomi Joan