Honeyfeet - Honeyfeet '2018

Tracks list

On 30thMarch, Wah Wah 45s will release ORANGE WHIP, the new album by their
latest signing, Honeyfeet. The outfit, who have received praise from the likes
of The Guardian, have also set festivals alight up and down the country with
their unique melange of sounds.

For the last couple of years the Honeyfeet have been a conduit for the ideas and
expressions of an exotic mixture of Manchester based musicians. This
genre-defying band incorporate styles including jazz, folk and hip hop into
their music. Someone once called it Folk-Hop and Barrelhouse-pop, and thats just
vague enough to make sense.

The band, on this record, are fronted by Ríoghnach Connolly – also
known for her work with cult folk-dance group Afro Celt Sound System and Real
World artists The Breath - a remarkable singer and flautist who...can ease from
Irish traditional influences to soul (The Guardian). The line up is completed by
Rik Warren (vocals/harmonica), Gus Fairbairn (tenor sax), Biff Roxby
(trombone/vocals), Ellis Davies (guitar), Lorien Edwards (bass guitar), John
Ellis (keyboards) and David Schlechtriemen (drums).

ORANGE WHIP finds the band at their most incredibly diverse. Opening with recent
single Sinner (received radio play from the likes of 6 Music and BBC
Manchester), which showcases Ríoghnachs extraordinary agile and emotive
voice, the album moves with dizzying swagger on songs covering a wide range of
subjects. Quickball tells the story of being so infatuated with someone you want
to eat them, while Whatever You Do addresses the fear-mongering of the press
over folk-hop and oom-pah, and Demons deals with love and redemption on a blast
of harmonica-driven country, sung by Rik Warren.

Rik also takes lead vocal on a re-working of Robert Johnsons Love in Vain, a
song showing Honeyfeets more reflective side, his Skip James-esque drawl
bringing an eerie quality to the lyrics about a doomed relationship. The band
reshape the progression too, swinging the tune slowly and creating a little
underground blues club in the midst of the recording.

Elsewhere the band go all New Orleanian on Colonel Hathis Trunk Juice, a
sinister tale inspired by trombonist Biff Roxbys horn riff recalling one of the
elephants of The Jungle Book. Further showcasing their virtuosity, on one of the
albums best moments – especially the nuanced vocal performance by
Ríoghnach, who was raised on Irish folk – on Hunt and Gather the band
do their own take on prog-folk, with a flute and cello melody running alongside
a brass counterpoint.

Ríoghnach turns in another incredible vocal on the albums final track -
future single Meet Me On The Corner. With a pounding beat, it is one of the
albums main highlights. Guitar and brass propels Ríoghnach to sing lyrics
that could be straight out of the playground, but suggest something deeper,
possibly mystical even, in its demands for a dalliance on the street. It closes
the album on a high note, for a band who have that rare ability to distil all
their disparate influences, while always sounding like their unique selves.

ORANGE WHIP heralds the sound of a remarkable band going overground. 

Tracklist:
1 01. Honeyfeet - Sinner (04:57)
1 02. Honeyfeet - Quickball (03:07)
1 03. Honeyfeet - Woe (05:15)
1 04. Honeyfeet - Whatever You Do (04:44)
1 05. Honeyfeet - Demons (03:09)
1 06. Honeyfeet - Colonel Hathis Trunk Juice (03:06)
1 07. Honeyfeet - Love in Vain (04:03)
1 08. Honeyfeet - Hunt and Gather (05:41)
1 09. Honeyfeet - Meet Me on the Corner (04:18)

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