HONESTY is a band I’ve written about before. At the time I called their music ‘more like a fantastic compilation than anything else.’ Here’s the whole record on YouTube, hit go and we’ll talk while it plays:
They released the single CEASE a few weeks ago, and as a standalone single, it’s excellent. As a track on this mixtape, it’s fucking sublime. While the record retains the feeling of a compilation, it’s closer to a film soundtrack, or a late-night set by a brilliant DJ.
Here’s an example: Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw is the guest vocal on BOING, and she does her spoken-word thing to great effect over a shimmery and bright synth bed and busy, glitchy rhythm. The song seamlessly transitions to CEASE, and vocalist Imi Holmes takes over, singing gently like an old Portishead track. The effect is jarring in the best way – for an instant I thought Shaw was actually singing.
The thing is stylistically diverse, but the tracks all share a rare intensity and depth. Though lyrics are fairly minimal, those that are there are intriguing and mysterious even though they’re frequently, deliberately, engagingly drowned out by the mix. It’s never boring. All but two tracks are under 4 minutes, and half of the 12 tracks are less than 3 minutes. It ends in a discordant burst of noise and
This piece from The Line of Best Fit is worth reading for context and commentary from the band directly.
Overall, there are only a handful of tracks that stand on their own for various reasons: length, the context and narrative arc of the record, or the sparse and beatless instrumentation of some tracks. The record benefits from this approach — it’s clearly meant to be consumed as a single item, not a collection of songs. And as a single item, it’s near perfect.