began studying Journalism at University College Falmouth. Six months prior to completion of his course, Howard decided to focus on making music full-time, making melodic rootsy folk music, with progressively darker lyrics. His reputation grew around Devon, and soon spread to other areas of the UK. After a month of sold-out dates across Europe and the UK Howard was eventually asked to sign for Island Records. Due to his association with the town, Howard was chosen in 2014 to appear on the 10 Totnes pound note. Music career 2008–2011: Early releases Before signing to a record label, Howard had already released some material. In 2008 he self-released his debut EP Games in the Dark. His first major release was These Waters, an EP featuring six tracks, including "The Wolves". In 2010, Ben Howard released the Old Pine EP, followed by a number of singles, such as "The Fear" and "Keep Your Head Up". Howard now had enough material to release an album, Every Kingdom, which would feature a number of his previous singles. One of the songs from this album, 'Promise' was used in the first episode of The 100. In 2010, he also started supporting Angus & Julia Stone's concerts in Europe. He also joined them for one live performance of Yellow Brick Road in Paris. 2011–13: Every Kingdom Howard signed to Island Records in 2011, due to the label's history of UK folk singers, including Nick Drake and John Martyn. After singles "Old Pine" and "The Wolves" were released in 2011, Howard recorded his debut album entitled Every Kingdom, which was released on 3 October 2011. He was nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize. Howard worked alongside India Bourne, Marcus Wright and Chris Bond to make Every Kingdom, with Bourne playing cello, keyboards, ukulele, bass and contributing vocals and percussion, Bond playing guitars, bass, double bass, drums, percussion, keyboards, accordion, contributing to vocals, and also producing the record, and additional modular-dynamic (MD) synthesisers provided by Wright. He also toured with Bourne and Bond on his 2012 Every Kingdom tour, with support from Willy Mason. In 2012, Howard launched his music in America with Every Kingdom being released on 3 April 2012, and appearances at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Texas and a US tour confirmed. His song "Promise" was featured at the end of season 8, episode 12 of TV show House. In May 2012, Howard performed "The