Billboard Style

Billboard Style is the new project of longtime collaborators Ben Guterl (Forth Wanderers) and Dan Howard (Victoryland), who met over a decade ago at a house show in Maryland before ending up at Oberlin College together that fall. After years spent making lo-fi bedroom pop as Ben Special, the duo stepped into a more equal partnership, with Guterl writing and singing and Howard producing and now contributing vocals as well.

Their debut album, Pull of the Moon, was built from years of songs and centers on love as obsession: a fixation, a fever, a thing that keeps you spellbound even when it hurts. Written during a period when Guterl's decade-long relationship was unraveling, the record trades in immediate, melodic songwriting, moving from the synth-driven waltz of "I Am A Man" to the raw acoustic ballad "Jelly" without ever settling into one mode. The result is a record about growing up alongside the people you love, and the friendships and partnerships that shape you along the way.