On their new self-titled album, the band Honey and Salt takes you for a spin. Although starting out you might feel like the band is just another artsy technical band with a little bit of added energy thrown in for good measure, they actually feel like more than that. Their energy is an integral feeling part of their musical identity. At that, the band members’ musical identity shines through nicely on the new release; you feel while listening that your experience is really hinging on some real talent on the part of the members of the band.
Repetitively and even refreshingly strong sounding drums, precise guitar playing, and occasional elongated instrumental sections on the new record all help underscore this fact. The band is raw -feeling to the point that you almost get the feeling that you’re listening to a classic or classic style straight up hardcore band at times, minus screamed vocals. It’s actually very interesting the way that plays out; what it feels like is that throughout the course of the record, the band slowly reveals itself as made up artistic heirs/peers in the making to bands like Quicksand.
The strength of the band rests largely with the energy that comes to define their record as you make your way through it. At the same time, though, they’re not just energy. They don’t leave you hanging with an excessively thin musical presentation; instead, they give a sense of life to their corner of the musical community through seemingly going all out to weave a pattern of melodies that’s really just quite enjoyable for the open-minded music fan. While being out there in a way, the album also “makes sense,” and that’s a really great aspect to any release.
There is just really a lot to love here both in the band’s overall energy and in their artistic passion. Their album grows on you the more you listen to it; there’s a lot of depth to it and to really grasp the band’s meaning and intent, listening to the album straight through from front to back seems like a good idea. It takes you on an edifying journey and by the end you can’t help but move along to what you’re listening to.
