The Honey Tongues Review

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The Honey Tongues Review

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Consisting of eight unique voices and songwriters, The Honey Tongues bring a wide pallet of sounds, styles, instrumentations and vocals for our ears to lick upon. Once two separate bands, Red Haven and Dirty Grace, the two joined together to form one band called The Honey Tongues.  They began performing as one group in the summer of 2015.  As if that was not enough band members, they brought Vancouver songstress Logan Thackray and lifelong creator/performer Aubrey Burke (raised in a full-time clown family) into the mix. That was the final ingredients to the gumbo that is now The Honey Tongues.  The band creates a sound they call – ‘Swamp Opera,’ which combines Americana roots grit and indie swing with soulful harmonies and beat-boxing.  Crafting delicate folk arrangements and stomping dance numbers, the band embraces a wide palette – from accordion to saxophone to mandolin to mouth percussion – to express the ancient soul of the modern era.  Whether it’s songs about shadows, earth magic, grimy handshakes or lovers old and new, this band of many faces will show you them all.

Their debut album was released in 2017, Live At Monarch Studios.  Now, The Honey Tongues are releasing their second album titled, The Honey Tongues. With eight original tracks for our ears to feast upon, and a wide range of styles with excellent harmonies, there is something for everyone on this plater. Recorded on the traditional, unseeded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Watuth, Squamish, Sto:Lo, Saanich, Quw’ut’sun and Chemanius First Peoples. Each member pens a track and every adds their own vocal sounds and various instruments. The depth of creativity is immensely thought provoking and extremely musical.

Positives:

The vocal counterpoint, harmonies and leads are as creative as the music is, which is outstanding.

Bottom Line:

There is chemistry in this band that is magical. Made up of 4 singer/songwriter couples from BC Canada that present uplifting music with grooves that have a rootsy soul. The songwriting is solid, each track has multiple sections, feels and instrumentation. Each track is also lead by a different lead vocalist, the amazing part is, the music is cohesive, centered and flows as a whole. The vocal combinations are endless, from all female four-part harmonies to multiple part counterpoint, The Honey Tongues have it. The instrumentation is just a diverse: double/electric bass, accordion, beatboxing, keyboard, mandolin, drums, saxophone, tenor banjo and electric guitar. The main and most important quality of the music is the prodigious ideas the execution of the project as a whole. Sometimes overly large ensembles sound can become mottled, The Honey Tongues have carefully constructed a winning sound. Don't miss this one!

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