Post Honeymoon – S/T
Post Honeymoon consummates it’s vows with melodic vocals meshed with a decidedly Gothic flair to create a sound for a niche audience. This album delivers screeching guitars, haunting keyboards, precise percussions, and personal lyrics wrapped in a packaged intentionally frayed around the edges. Blending upbeat tunes with slower, more personal songs, Post Honeymoon offers listeners a fair sampling of what the band has to offer.
Post Honeymoon manages to maintain a consistent sound throughout their album while experimenting with a wide range of song structures. Dirge, for example, opens up slowly with harmonious vocals and a militant drum pattern before crashing in with powerful chords to give strength to the song’s lyrics. Eerie keyboard play adds gravity to the delicacy of the verses.
This is a sharp contrast to other songs like Fakes which grabs you by the collar and pulls you along for a ride filled with high pitched guitar wailing and a catchy drum pattern. Where other songs maintain a harmonious vocal style, Fakes boasts almost a witch-like weight that commands attention. In my opinion, this is the best song on the album and truly showcases the band’s talent. The band knows this also, as there’s definitely a noticeable extra oomph behind everything played here.
Other songs like Little Messes, while offering a more personal feel than some of the other songs, suffer from a slowness that costs the band some of the punch that’s prevalent in the louder tracks. The bar gets raised high with the more spirited pieces of the album, and it’s a shame to see some of the character and unique quality of the band’s music lost by what comes across on the surface as lazy and uninspired music.
Another perceived misstep are the lyrics, which can come as both a gift and a curse. The lyrics bravely lend a glimpse into the band’s personal life, particularly in Numbers and Lars. This is great in some instances, however there are times where the music seems to be by Post Honeymoon, and for Post Honeymoon alone. Artistic expression is a great emotional release, but there are times where the band seems to forget people besides themselves are listening. Lines like ‘Stick with me husband / We’ve got years to be as one’ are fine, and I get the idea behind them, but I don’t find much to relate there.
As a whole, however, Post Honeymoon does not disappoint on this outing. This reviewer would be interested in hearing more from them, however I would want more, also. A solid amount of potential can be heard in this collection of songs. There is a great start here, but I know they’re capable of more. Let’s hope the music continues after the honeymoon phase is over!
By Albert Hailey
