Black Honey, a new band hailing from Brighton, just dropped their sophomore demo “Teenager”. I liked this track a lot more than their first (“Sleep Forever“); there is more energy, the melody stands out. Like “Sleep Forever”, “Teenager” still possesses lyrics that exude “the tortured youth”: “hey, I feel like a stranger/you say I’m just a teenager/I’ll follow you forever’/I promise I’ll make it better”. The female vocals, which take on a slightly different tone from “Sleep Forever”, can be likened to that of a more melancholy and drawn-out Gwen Stefani + Lana del Rey hybrid.
I enjoyed this single and I think it shows potential to be the foundation for an exceptional band. Part of me feels like I have heard this before, but then I notice aspects of the track that sway me away from pinning it as one of many before it. This is what makes Black Honey work: they don’t do anything spectacularly revolutionary with “Teenager”, but they create a melting pot of familiar sounds to make for a catchy, yet subtly complex, demo that is surely to just be the beginning for what Black Honey has in store.
