HONEYGLAZE + FLIP TOP HEAD – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 16.10.22
South London trio Honeyglaze with their dreamy shoegaze sound were one of many of my highlights from this year’s ‘Great Escape’ new music festival. So, I was very much looking forward to their headline tour, and return to Brighton.
Honeyglaze arrived at The Hope & Ruin on Sunday with tracks from their self-titled debut album, and a bunch of new songs.
Arriving on stage a little late, bass player Tim Curtis announced “We’re Honeyglaze. No time to explain.” They’re not a band that wastes time on idle chat. Rather than going into songs from their highly acclaimed debut album, Honeyglaze started with three new songs. The opening number, ‘TV’ was a quiet starter with singer and guitarist Anouska Sokolow starting the song almost as a solo number. It seemed a rather shy start to the set with Anouska singing side on or facing away from the audience.
One of the main features of Honeyglaze’s sound is Anouska’s pure, almost delicate, but assured vocals. She’s one of the best new vocalists in my opinion. In Sunday’s performance, the other members of the band, Tim Curtis on bass and Yuri Shibuichi on drums, seemed to play a more prominent role. This was most notable on the very good bassline between two new songs ‘I Feel It All’ leading into ‘TMJ’. It seemed to me to be more of an all-round band sound, while still allowing Anouska to shine.
Some of Honeyglaze’s new material in Sunday’s set had a slightly heavier sound compared to their ‘Great Escape’ set. Some even had an instrumental crescendo. Both these developments in Honeyglaze’s band dynamics along with their sound in their new songs added to the variety in their set. A seamless progression, rather than a major change in tack.
Going into the final song of the set, Anouska said that she’d eaten some dodgy prawns earlier but thought she was going to be OK. Thankfully she was. That final song, ‘Childish Things’ started quietly, building mid-song, before fading to a beautiful end to a wonderful set. It was great to see Honeyglaze continuing to grow and develop their sound and as a band. Definitely a band on an upward path, and worth following.
Honeyglaze are:
Anouska Sokolow – vocals and guitar
Tim Curtis – bass and vocals
Yuri Shibuichi – drums
Honeyglaze setlist:
‘TV’ (unreleased)
‘Cold Caller’ (unreleased)
‘Hide’ (unreleased)
‘Female Lead’ (from 2022 ‘Honeyglaze’ album)
‘I Am Not Your Cushion’ (from 2022 ‘Honeyglaze’ album)
‘Burglar’ (from 2022 ‘Honeyglaze’ album)
‘I Feel It All’ (unreleased)
‘TMJ’ (unreleased)
‘Pretty Girls’ (unreleased)
‘Shadows’ (from 2022 ‘Honeyglaze’ album)
‘Childish Things’ (from 2022 ‘Honeyglaze’ album)
Flip Top Head, a local Brighton band, provided very entertaining support to Honeyglaze. Flip Top Head are a seven-piece band merging shoegaze soundscapes with jazz and post-punk. In their sound there is inspiration from the likes of Cocteau Twins and Radiohead.
While I’d not seen Flip Top Head before Sunday’s concert, I had seen some of the band members in their other band The Famous People (Bowie Bartlett, Alfie Beer and Bertie Beer). Members of another local band, Attic’O’Matic, also doubled up in Flip Top Head’s line up.
I found Flip Top Head’s set both unpredictable (in a good way) with their mix of musical styles and also very refreshing. There were Latin rhymes, folk, some funky basslines and even a trombone in the mix. One constant throughout Flip Top Head’s set was the quality of the haunting vocals from Bowie Bartlett in a similar style to Elizabeth Fraser of The Cocteau Twins. Fellow vocalist on Sunday, Bertie Beer sporting a Green Door Store baseball cap, provided a good contrast to Bowie’s more enigmatic vocals.
The last song of Flip Top Head’s set started like a melancholy folk song, but built to a musical frenzy giving a great finish to a very enjoyable set.
Flip Top Head are:
Bowie Bartlett – Guitar and Vocals
Alfie Beer – acoustic guitar and trombone
Bertie Beer – guitar and vocals
Marie Friess – bass
Harry Giles – drums
Harrison Spooner – guitar
Ollie White – guitar and synth
Flip Top Head setlist:
‘The Scent’
‘Warm Radiation Glow’
‘Screaming Joe’
‘Intro/1998’
‘Seventh Bell Number’
‘1st July 2006’
‘Jesse Paints The Houses From The Nook In His Bedroom’
