Weirdo Rock: Black Honey’s ‘A Fistful of Peaches’
The collective malaise of a generation drenched in fuzzy, bruising indie rock.
★★★★☆
Photo: Press
Since their conception in 2014, British indie rock act Black Honey have established themselves as masters of the genre. Fronted my hypnotically apathetic frontwoman Izzy B. Phillips, the group have released a debut EP and two full-length studio albums.
Well, the time has come once more for some good-old-fashioned indie rock. Enter Honey’s third effort, A Fistful of Peaches, which proves a delicious mix of teenage nonchalance, crunchy guitar and odes to neurodivergence.
The album opens with Charlie Bronson, undoubtedly one of the heaviest tracks on the record. “I’m Charlie fucking Bronson…” wails a righteous Phillips as she tears into the song’s chorus. It’s an instant punch to the gut, proof Black Honey would never mellow with age.
Heavy, one of the singles released in the run-up to the record’s release, is a high point, with lyrics on the mass and mayhem of modern-day life. It’s the perfect pop-punk song, and a live staple if the band ever wrote one.
Up Against It and Out of My Mind pack the same message, but let up on some of the distortion. Nonetheless, they’re anthems for the night out, relentless in rum-soaked affirmations. Rock Bottom, as confessed during an album launch gig at Rough Trade East in London, is the band’s favourite track, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a ferociously contagious tune, distilling all the power and pop perfection of early 2000s indie into a single track.
Cut the Cord and OK are further explorations into the human mind, resulting in some shoegaze-y licks and guitar fuzz. Undeniably one of the pinnacles of A Fistful of Peaches, though, is I’m A Man, an ode to the men for whom, “remorse isn’t [their] thing”. Live, it ascends into another plane of existence, as vocalist Phillips declares this one’s for those who have been stomped on, dismissed and traumatised.
After any sugar rush, there’s a comedown. In this instance, Nobody Knows, a Vaccines-esque indie-stoner classic in the making, and inevitably an encore opener. Weirdos is a call to arms for the outdated and the unfashionable, whilst Tombstone has one face-crushingly mean beat from drummer Alex Woodward.
The record closes with Bummer, one last reflection on the anxiety and anguish of a fractured mind. “Take that medication / For self-deprecating,” murmurs Izzy B. with SSRI-induced indifference. A Fistful of Peaches is an overwhelmingly crunchy record, in both style and substance. Tracks about depression and isolation are coupled with reassuring bridges and beastly licks. It’s one hell of a follow-up to 2021’s Written & Directed, a stand-out record of that year. …Peaches promises everything you expected from Black Honey while doubling down on explosive choruses and relevance, however raw the subject matter. The only way for a band like this is up — while hammering down the competition by a country mile.
A Fistful of Peaches is out now via Foxfive Records.