To anybody who was able to resist the girl gang siren call that was Honeyblood’s 2014 debut album, the Glasgow duo is upping their offer. Babes Never Die is both a motto and a call to arms, the words – apparently – tattooed on the ribcage of singer/guitarist Stina Tweeddale and echoing, mantra-like, through the hypnotic chug of the album’s 45-second “Intro” track.
Sure, tacking a mostly instrumental fade onto either end of an album is the calling card of the self-important prog rocker, but, as with most things Honeyblood, it’s done with a knowing smirk and a tongue firmly in cheek (never more so than on the “Outro” track, which warps Tweeddale’s preceding social exclusion-themed lament “Gangs” into what sounds like an ice cream van theme performed on a recorder). That facetiousness, that sense of fun, underpins most of the reconstituted duo’s second album – the ferocious Cat Myers is now beating the battle drums – but you’d be brave indeed if you dared to break these hearts.
“Ready for the Magic”, first heard tearing a hole in festival stages this summer, has bona-fide hit single written all over it: crunching bassline, handclap cymbals and a chorus that begs to be screamed from an open-topped bus. “Sea Hearts” is the heady, all-consuming soundtrack to every coming of age movie and “Sister Wolf” the first-act climax when the darkness runs riot. But the deceptively gorgeous “Cruel” and the aforementioned “Gangs” find Tweeddale in contemplative mood, and show just how versatile the guitar-and-drums combo can be.
Below: watch the video for "Sea Hearts"
