... I had the pleasure of writing the first and only review of Honeyroot's debut album, Sound, Echo, Location and I also have great pleasure in writing, yet again, the first review of the long awaited follow up album, The Sun Will Come.
Honeyroot are an ambient dance collaborative born out ... Read review
Advantages: Diverse Sounds, Some Great Tracks Disadvantages: Too Electronic In Parts, Strange Vocals In Parts
...awaited follow up album, The Sun Will Come.
Honeyroot are an ambient dance collaborative born out of two well known 1980's bands. Glenn Gregory and Keith Lowndes were both former members of ABC and Glenn Gregory was also a member of Heaven 17. Both have teamed us as DJ's and musicians before the Honeyroot collaborative and have been signed as Honeyroot to the 'Just Music' label for a number of years now.
The Sun Will ... ...album
The Sun Will Come, the new album on Just Music from electronica pioneers Honeyroot (Glenn Gregory & Keith Lowndes) is fresh, original, diverse and a complete listening experience, one of those special albums that makes you want to listen to it again and again and again...
From the very first to the very last note, The Sun Will Come is a classic summer album - to sit alongside Air's Moon Safari, Moby's Play and ... more
I've now been on Ciao for two years now and in that time I've written a variety of reviews. One of my favourite items to write reviews on is music. I had the pleasure of writing the first and only review of Honeyroot's debut album, Sound, Echo, Location and I also have great pleasure in writing, yet again, the first review of the long awaited follow up album, The Sun Will Come.
Honeyroot are an ambient dance collaborative born out of two well known 1980's bands. Glenn Gregory and Keith Lowndes were both former members of ABC and Glenn Gregory was also a member of Heaven 17. Both have teamed us as DJ's and musicians before the Honeyroot collaborative and have been signed as Honeyroot to the 'Just Music' label for a number of years now.
The Sun Will Come- The Promise ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The official website for this album is pretty basic but gives us this blurb about the new album
The Sun Will Come, the new album on Just Music from electronica pioneers Honeyroot (Glenn Gregory & Keith Lowndes) is fresh, original, diverse and a complete listening experience, one of those special albums that makes you want to listen to it again and again and again...
From the very first to the very last note, The Sun Will Come is a classic summer album - to sit alongside Air's Moon Safari, Moby's Play and Royksopp's Melody AM but with a sound that is uniquely Honeyroot. With its range of styles from the delicate to the immense, combining an intense energy with a calming ambience - how to say it in words! It is destined to become a modern masterpiece and THE summer soundtrack for 2007 - a must for beach parties, dance floors and back gardens across the globe. Or, if you can't be there - then sit back, listen, and just imagine……
Release Date: ~~~~~~~~~~~ Release date was 6th August 2007, sitting well for being a summer ambient album.
Track Listing: ~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Goodbye 2. Nobody Loves You (The Way I Do) 3. Heavy Drops 4. Where I Belong 5. Change Is Gonna Come 6. Drifter 7. People Say 8. Every Single Day 9. Waves 10. Freeway 11. Stars
The Tracks: ~~~~~~~~~
In keeping with my latter music reviews, I will not review all tracks in depth, but because Honeyroot are a little know gem, I will at least try to say something about the tracks for the benefit of trying to introduce some new listeners into the Honeyroot fold!
1. Goodbye Well, I think this should really be Hello, rather than Goodbye as it opens the album for the listener as an instrumental track. Starting off quietly and reserved, Goodbye is a creeper, it is so gentle and soothing yet it has immense power composed beneath the synth sound. The song is a bit wailier than most of the other tracks and features a heavy bass line later into the song. It sits well as an opener but in my opinion, it is not one of my favourites and I find it a little bit uninspiring for an opener track, nonetheless, you see Honeyroot haven't actually lost their magic. 7/10
2. Nobody Loves You (The Way I Do) Have you ever experienced unrequited love and the pain it brings? This is one of the most perfect songs I have ever encountered that sums that feeling up. This is a vocal track and it is chilling and haunting. It has all the essence of a chill out track. I am not sure who does the female vocals on this track, I downloaded the album after struggling to be able to buy it but whoever this fine lady is she does an immense job of setting the scene. I can only describe the music as subtle but imposing. I feel the piano synths and beats do a fantastic job of being wonderfully simple but holding so much power to the listener. It is little wonder this track was picked as the first single from the album. It's definitely one for the Ibiza chill out fans. 10/10
3. Heavy Drops Heavy Drops was the double A side to Nobody Loves You. Going for a more electronic and upbeat sound, this is the first time I have heard Honeyroot with this kind of sound. It's far too electronic for my liking, the strong emphasis on this doesn't appeal to me and I doubt it will appeal to Honeyroot's ambient fans. A weaker link on this album. 4/10
4. Where I Belong Where I Belong is another vocal track and it is a marvellous track. It was also the second release from this album and the video for it can be found on the official website. Going right back down to basics, this is a guitar based track again sung by a female vocalist. This is soft and catchy, two things that really shouldn't work together, but do. The synths come in later in the track but the emphasis is very much on the simply guitar playing which has an almost Mediterranean feel to it. The words are lovely and simply and it just encompasses everything wonderful about life, my favourite being:
Feel the sunshine breaking through And all the grey sky's turned to blue I won't let sorrow follow me Just like a bird I'm flying free
This is just simple and wonderful and I cannot see how anyone would dislike this. 10/10
5. Change is Gonna Come Again returning to the slower pace Honeyroot are famous for. Piano and synths softly break you into this track. Again another vocal track. It doesn't sit well with me though, the vocals are somewhat drawn out and the simplicity of the music doesn't really compliment the vocals. Maybe Honeyroot picked the wrong vocalist for this track or maybe they underestimated the power of their music but the two just don't quite fit for my liking, although the middle and end of the track brings a slight improvement. 5/10
6. Drifter A guitar come electronic come old fashioned gramophone record sound on this track. I thought Drifter would be heady, soft and light but it's not. You get a kind of strange feeling with this track, it is a spoken vocal track, now I never feel these sit well on albums and this is the case here. It almost feels like a self help guide in places then breaks into an almost gospel style middle part. I don't feel that Honeyroot quite got it right here. There are too many sounds which overwhelm the listener and I still can't quite get my head around it. 5/10
7. People Say Back to the electronic upbeat theme. This is even more electronic than Heavy Drops and again it still doesn't feel quite right somehow. Vocals added still don't help the case for this song but it is a grower on you, especially if you have been a fan of electronica in the past. Still a bit fussy for some but I think it is an OK attempt at electronica as opposed to ambient and I appreciate this is them diverting from their ambient sound to show what they can do. 6/10
8. Every Single Day We return once more to a less hedonistic sound, moving back ever more into ambience but not quite getting there yet- this album is a journey if ever there was one. Guitar and simple strings indulge the listener before it heads back up into electric guitars and synths. Vocals are performed by a male performer, I have found out this is Glenn Gregory himself. It's a funny track this, it almost embraces the rock-pop influences of a few years ago and combines it with Honeyroots own sound and it is quite a mix of sounds. I can see it may just be a bit too much for some people but I quite enjoy this track, it is near enough Honeyroot's roots but taking influences from other music I like (Manics, Stereophonics, Green Day) and making this quite a success in an album track. 7/10
9. Waves Waves brings us back to ambience by way of guitar and synths. This track is quite magical really; it has the feel of falling rain. This is another vocal track but again, I do feel Honeyroot have somehow not got the vocal-music combination quite right but after a bit, it starts to get better. I'm not sure if Waves was the best title, it almost implies it should be light and floaty but that's not the case. It's a good effort though, again showing another string to the bow for Honeyroot. 7/10
10. Freeway We go back to a sound which is like Where I Belong. It's a cheerful, upbeat, yet relaxing combination which uses guitars and synths and brass to gain a wonderful sound. I can really see this as a successful summer sound. It can make you imagine days in the sunshine, having walks, picnics or anything else you do which makes you feel good. This track generates a huge feel good sound. It isn't overly fussy really, and it is very easy listening. This is one of the better tracks on this album and shows yet again, Honeyroot can move successful away from the moody feelings associated with Sound, Echo, Location and carry it off. Vocals later in the track are simply two lines which really set the track off. 8/10
11. The Stars Twinkle twinkle here is The Stars. A strange track, this goes back to the electronic sound again, which is a bit strange as Honeyroot should have really let this The Stars go out on an ambient bang. It's not all bad, strings and synths do work well against a moderate beat. Female vocals are again quite strange but they do work at telling what the track is called. The Stars has a little bit of a Christmas sound and I am really still undecided if it works or not. The sound of this track is mixed up but yet, it still seems to have an effect on the listener. It's catchy, it's quite mellow, it doesn't demand much from the listener but I would say it's neither the best ending nor the best track on the album but it works and it's a decent enough track for any listener. 7/10
Overall: ~~~~~~ I am a huge fan of Honeyroot and I waited with baited breath for this album for over 2 years. I wasn't overly disappointed in my waited, it is a good enough album but Honeyroot became known for being a ambient, chill-out group and The Sun Will Come does reflect that in part but it also shows a more deeper electronic meaning to Honeyroot.
Whether they had synths for Christmas the year before or they are simple exploring and diversifying their sound, I don't know. The sound is certainly very different to Sound, Echo, Location and not quite as relaxing as it either. Maybe I was hoping for too much that Honeyroot would keep the sound I loved but I had hoped for a bit more ambience from them this time around.
For me it was worth the wait, simply to see what they came up with in the two years they were away from the album making scene and eagerly await a third offering from Honeyroot.
I would recommend this but I don't know how many Honeyroot fans we have on Ciao. It is certainly great to have to explore the diversity of music and certainly one which is more than worth downloading or purchasing.
As for the promised summer-Ibiza sound this album promises, you will be disappointed if you buy this album solely for that reason but if you just want a decent, varied sound, something different from the norm, you won't go far wrong with this.
Other Information: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vocalists: Briony Greehill, Kim Richey, Kerry Shaw, Elsie Wooley and Lindsay Crisp, Glenn Gregory.
Label: Just Music
Website: www.thesunwillcome.com
Prices: £9.99 Just Music Shop (www.justmusic.co.uk) £10.99 Amazon (New) From £6.69 Amazon Market Place £8.69 iTunes.
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