Lone Fortune is Chet Del Campo (left) and Heyward Howkins | photos courtesy of the artists
Later Fortune is a lush, lucid collab between local indie singer-songwriter vets Chet Del Campo and Heyward Howkins
Heyward Howkins and Chris Madl (who records under the name Chet DelCampo) have been making their individual marks on the Philly music scene over the last few years, but recently the two local songwriters took a quick break from their respective solo material to team up as Later Fortune, with a new release out now via Bandcamp. The musicians have been frequent players in each other’s solo work, but this is the first time they’ve joined together for a truly collaborative effort.
Later Fortune recorded two songs for the release. “A 12 Year Audition” is carried by a soft, echoey melody and rich harmonies, while “Birds of Papua” is fully instrumental, driven by lush keyboards and guitar and underscored with a dose of organ and horn; though lyricless, it contains multitudes. Together, the pair of warm and ethereal songs are a welcome introduction to the new project, and hopefully indicative of its longevity.
In a statement on their Bandcamp page, Later Fortune share the story of how the collaboration came about and how the songwriters’ dynamic works, describing the project as “a Russian nested dolls of assumed identity.” Madl first envisioned the project as a series of recordings with a rotating cast of collaborators, but instead, this particular pairing of musicians stuck. According to Madl, their chosen name of Later Fortune “hints to some kinda equanimity and more lucid self awareness that comes with the accruing years.” And as Howkins puts it, it “also suggests that the fortune could be leaving.” It’s up to you to listen and decide.