With the departure of drummer Shona McVicar after their debut in 2014, new drummer Cat Myers joined singer/guitarist Stina Tweeddale in the second incarnation of Honeyblood and now the second full-length album release.
Producer James Dring (Jamie T, Gorillaz) refines the distorted fuzzy hooks of their early DIY material and tightens the catchy choruses and call-and-response guitar lines. In between the opening and closing instrumentals, ‘Intro’ and ‘Outro’, there are ten tracks of varying degrees of heavy percussion (the album’s title track), lead single ‘Ready For The Magic’, all pop-punk infectiousness with handclaps and sing-along swagger, and the grunge-styled ‘Sea Hearts’.
Elsewhere, the fuzzy guitar ballad ‘Cruel’ with Myers and Tweeddale’s harmonies slows the pace, and there’s a wistful, emotional side to ‘Gangs’, Tweddale’s recollection of early life growing up in a rough suburb of Edinburgh
Honeyblood’s second album is a high quality vehicle of contagious spirit and ‘babes forever’ girl power.
Honeyblood’s new single ‘Ready For The Magic’ from the forthcoming album ‘Babes Never Die’. Out 4th November on Fat Cat.
The Fat Angel Sings 