Honeyglaze dish up a sweet sound at Resident

Honeyglaze live at Resident, Brighton 30.4.22 (pic Mike Burnell) (click pic to enlarge)

HONEYGLAZE – RESIDENT, BRIGHTON 30.4.22

Saturday saw Honeyglaze promote their debut self-titled album at Resident. I’d caught them supporting Sunflower Bean at The Electric Ballroom a few weeks ago and was excited to be seeing them again.

Formed around the start of the Covid lockdown, they’re another of the many bands to come through the Brixton creative hot-bed and residency at The Windmill. With their dreamy shoegaze sound, they’re very different in style from the post-punk noise of several of those bands from that scene.

Back to their session on Saturday.
After the introduction, they shyly entered the store. Bassist Tim commenting on the in-store setting saying “This is the closest we’ve ever played to anybody.” Their apparent shyness wasn’t a lack of confidence or nervousness. Their self-assurance was shown in the opening lyrics of their first song. ‘I Am Not Your Cushion’, “I guess I do it my way”.

Many of their songs are about personal issues around growing up and entering adulthood, covering subject matter such as low self-esteem on ‘Creative Jealousy’ and finding your own identity in a celebrity culture on ‘Female Lead’.

Anouska’s vocals were superb. One of the best new vocalists I’ve heard for a while. Her delicate and pure voice switched easily between the dreamy songs and the poppier tracks later in their set. She effortlessly keeps the audience captivated, similar in many ways to Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star.

Vocals don’t work in isolation; however good they are. The band’s sound of beautifully crafted guitars was more than just a backdrop for the vocals.

Their set sounded and worked brilliantly. Although the turn out for this session was relatively small, the audience was enthralled from the opening note to the last.

Honeyglaze are rightly on many of the music press’s one-to-watch lists. If you want to find out for yourself, you can catch them when they’re back in Brighton for The Great Escape Festival.