London Produces Colourfully Sweet Pale Honey

Breaking their London duck (or perhaps more fittingly, pigeon), Pale Honey concluded their short UK tour at the capital's Islington.

The contemporary venue, reminiscent of Twin Peaks’ Black Lodge with red drapes covering the walls, was an ideal location for the show. The small room ensured that the audience was as close to the band as possible, and - as the cliche goes - this created a sense of intimacy that befitted gentler tracks such as ‘Desert’ and ‘Fiction’.

That said, it was the livelier numbers from the duo’s debut album that were the evening’s standouts. ’Tease’ - the EP’s best track - builds into a distorted behemoth, whilst ‘Fish’ has a fantastically callous clamor that borders on the early 90s Seattle sound. Frontwoman Tuva’s vocals are soft, husky and impeccable live, which counteract the heavy beat-keeping of drummer Nelly.

The Gothenburg-based pair are joined by a second guitarist and a bassist when playing live; the additional members adding some Jared-Leto-Oscars-chic to proceedings, along with some punchy musicianship. Their inclusion definitely adds a heavier element to the sound on the album, which works well within the live format. When some fuzzy bass is added to the song’s structure, the polished ‘Lonesome’ becomes a searing rock and roll track.

Single ‘Youth’ brought the (red) curtain down on proceedings for the duo’s debut gig in the capital, which was genuinely one of the best shows I’ve been to in a long time. Pale Honey have a confidence that stretches beyond both their age and relative inexperience; definitely one for the future.

Additional information on Pale Honey can be found
 here. To visit the Pale Honey Facebook page click
here. Photo credit to Michael Robert Williams. Words by Luke Forshaw

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