Black Honey - 'Shallow'
Black Honey unveil new single ‘Shallow’ ahead of their upcoming fourth record.
Arguably the pioneers of the mid-2010’s “punk meets indie in a dive bar” revival, mainstays Black Honey are returning with the release of their fourth full-length record, ‘Soak’. Where their eponymous debut was a riotous introduction, their sophomore ‘Written & Directed’ was a vintage-tinged dive into Hollywood, and ‘Fistful of Peaches’ lays bare with narratives of mental health and insecurities - ‘Soak’ is set to be their most raw and unadulterated record yet.
The tracks released thus far cover an amalgamation of topics; ‘Dead’ offers a dizzying narrative on dissociation and ‘Insulin’ discusses sexual assault frankly, and ‘Pyshco’ harks back to ‘Written & Directed’ with it’s Clockwork-Orange-inspired visuals - a reference that can be found veined throughout ‘Soak, both artistically and lyrically’.
The most recent arrival joining the fray is ‘Shallow’, a direct and unabashed commentary on social media: “‘Shallow’ is about the brain rot, being a hypocrite and still participating in a social discourse despite feeling shy and uncomfortable. It’s a bit of a view from space and all whilst summing up the human experience into two-line consumables and clickbait,” comments frontwoman Izzy B. Phillips.
Sonically, ‘Shallow’ is a triumph. It explores all corners of melodic pop while intricately weaving through gothic-soaked instrumentation. The Black-Honey-trademarked dark undertones act as a perfect counterpart to the equally dismal narrative. Likening social media to a prison (“A tiny creature screaming in a cage”), ‘Shallow’ comments on the adverse effects of online-addiction (“One cell that's clinging on inside my brain”), that results in glib and insubstantial interactions (“Finger tips scraping the barrel / Conversations, empty vessels”).
Where commentary on social media isn’t a new topic to broach, Black Honey do it without restraint, marrying astute observation with infectious choruses.
Words by Lana Williams
