Everything seemed to be going right for Empathy Test. In 2014, the band released their debut single, “Losing Touch,” and began building a formidable following with energizing live shows and a steady stream of consistently well-crafted synthpop. By the time they released their third LP, Monsters, they’d become one of the best synthpop bands in the world.
Then, the well went dry. We haven’t heard new music from Empathy Test in nearly five years. The duo—singer/songwriter Isaac Howlett and music producer Adam Relf—appears to be on a sort-of unannounced hiatus, though Isaac continues to perform live under the band’s name. It’s unclear to anyone if we’ll ever hear new music from Empathy Test again.
Not content to wait for the project’s next era to materialize, Isaac is forging ahead as a solo artist. So far, he’s released two singles that prove his unmistakable voice and sentimental lyrics can’t be bound by just one project. There’s much more to come this year, including a full-length solo album that began life as the Monsters follow-up.
I reached out to Isaac to learn more about his journey as a solo artist and what separates his solo work from Empathy Test. Here’s what he told me.
Congratulations on “Endless Night.” It’s a beautiful track. How would you describe the difference between an Empathy Test song and an Isaac Howlett song?
Thank you! I’m really happy with how it’s been received. Song-wise, there’s no difference between Empathy Test and Isaac Howlett really. It’s still me exploring, through lyrics and melody, whatever I’m feeling most deeply about at any given moment.
Music-wise, it’s pretty different. Mostly because Empathy Test is/was a collaboration between myself and one consistent producer, who had a very clear vision of what each record was supposed to sound like.
Releasing songs as “Isaac Howlett” has allowed me to get back in the driving seat of my own career and have more input into when and how my songs are arranged and produced. I’m still finding my feet with that.
At first, I thought I was just going to try and make Isaac Howlett sound as much like Empathy Test as possible, but I quickly realised that was both an impossible and pointless task. Instead, I’ve tried to embrace the freedom of stripping off the formula. Within two tracks, “House of Cards” and “Endless Night,” I’ve gone from a 152 BPM danceable, pop-synthwave track to a 112 BPM, 3/4 time orchestral waltz with a grand piano, plucked strings, and a vaguely Christmassy feel. I intend to experiment more!
You’re planning to release your solo debut album this year. What details can you share about it?
The working title for the solo album is “A Year Without Light,” which is the title of what will perhaps be one of, if not the most popular track on the album, based purely on the reaction of the two people that have heard all my demos. I’m holding that one back until the summer.
The songs are mostly an exploration of my thoughts and feelings during and coming out of the pandemic, which I know is old news, but these songs have been sitting around collecting dust for years. I have also thrown in a couple of re-works of older songs that never got “the Empathy Test treatment” to give the record more breadth. I’m really excited about how the demos came together, how different each track is, and how they create a cohesive story.
There’ll be 11 tracks in total, mostly because I like odd numbers and somehow 11 tracks feels more like an album than anything less. Of course, it’ll no doubt struggle to fit it onto a 12″ vinyl, but that battle will come later.
Is it all Isaac or are there collaborators involved?
I’ve chosen to make the album with Walter Kazmier, who produced “House of Cards” and “Endless Night.” As well as being a great producer (he’s also worked with NYXX and Danny Blu), Walter is incredibly supportive and understanding of my needs, which are plentiful at this point. He’s been exactly what I needed.
The way we work is with me creating a fully-arranged demo, with all the basic instrumentation and melodies in there and he takes what I’ve done and refines it, compositionally and technically. I intend to get lots of remixes though, and won’t rule out a more collaborative follow-up.
What sort of preparation did you undertake, and what new skills did you learn, to create a solo record?
A lot of the preparation was mental. I went through all the stages of loss with Empathy Test, before coming to the realisation that I had to move on, at least for the time being.
Once I had established what I was going to do—what I needed to do—I was crushed by the weight of my own expectations. I berated myself for not being able to do literally everything myself. I definitely tried to run before I could crawl. I also tried to work with a number of other producers, but nothing felt right.
Eventually, I realised nothing was going to feel right at that point, and the key was to get a track finished, throw it out there and see what happened. If everyone hated it and it went down like a lead balloon, at least I’d know where I was. All the hesitating and second-guessing was destroying me. I spent a year trying to learn to produce music and over that time the main thing I realised was that what I needed to learn first, before I got too deep into the technical stuff, was composition. I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved in such a short time and grateful to Walter for bringing my visions to fruition.
What else is on the horizon for 2025?
A lot! Everything is moving along nicely, we have a plan, a schedule, and we just need to stick to it. I have commissioned a bunch of remixes of “House of Cards” and “Endless Night” from artists who are performing at Empathy Fest in Leipzig, Germany, on 15th February, which is basically a one-day music festival with a few bands who have supported Empathy Test in the past.
I’ve got a fantastic remix of “House of Cards” from Emmon, the “Swedish electro clash queen,” an equally fantastic remix of “Endless Night” from The Foreign Resort (post-punk band from Denmark), and another on the way from DSTR (one of Daniel Myer’s many projects) from Germany, all of whom are performing at Empathy Fest.
JD Tucker from Grendel was looking for some vocals to experiment with for a new deep house project he has now named “Aiteall,” so I ended up with a remix of “House of Cards” from him too! Those will all go on an EP which will be released digitally and via CD in early February, along with a limited edition 7″ picture disc of the two original tracks.
Can we expect more singles ahead of the album’s release?
New single “Dreaming of Trees” will arrive shortly after, followed by another called “Eggshell” a couple of months later. Both those songs are the older material I mentioned before. “Dreaming of Trees” is my love letter to The Cure, in a way, and inspired by the unabashed romanticism of tracks like “Just Like Heaven” and “Friday I’m in Love.” “Eggshell” is a companion piece to Empathy Test’s “Demons” and has a similar vibe. Again, as with “House of Cards” and “Endless Night” the two tracks are like chalk and cheese, or more accurately in this case, light and dark, so I’m going to enjoy pairing them on the next EP.
The plan is to follow that up with the final two singles, the title track “A Year Without Light” and “Exit Earth,” a couple of months later still, which will both hopefully blow a few more minds. Then we will either have the album itself drop in September in time for the next Empathy Test (European) tour or just after it in November, depending how the work is going.
What’s been the most surprising part of stepping out as a solo artist so far? Any challenges you didn’t expect?
I think the most surprising positive has been just how supportive people are of the new material and how much more successful the tracks were than I personally expected. “House of Cards” landed in the German Alternative Chart (DAC), which is voted for by German scene DJs, at #8 and then jumped to #1 in its second week. That really blew my mind. I was concerned that “Endless Night” would not be as well-received, as it’s a waltz in 3/4 time and not really what you’d imagine being played in a club, and that debuted at #2!
On the less positive side, it felt a lot harder to get my new material heard than when we started Empathy Test, despite having a pretty sizeable audience at my fingertips. I think the massive amount of new music constantly being made available (Spotify and labels encouraging bands to be consistently churning out tracks, be it covers, remixes, live versions, collaborations of varying quality) and the algorithms working against us rather than for us, has made life a lot harder for independent artists.
We know Empathy Test was working on a Monsters follow-up. What is the status of that album?
It is now called “A Year Without Light” and will be released by Isaac Howlett as a solo album, in the latter half of 2025. I’m not even joking. I understand that a lot of people really want a new Empathy Test album. I did too, and I’d have happily made it an Empathy Test album if we were both on the same page. However, I can’t make a new Empathy Test album without Adam, and he will only be ready when he’s ready.
Finally, here’s to a great 2025. Do you have any resolutions for the year?
My resolutions are to stop overthinking everything, stop worrying about what people think, and release an absolutely stunning album in 2025.
