On this blog, whether covering Mute acts or the various other things that I find myself writing about, it’s not often that I get to write about artists that are local to where I live near Milton Keynes. And so it’s refreshing for me to write about ‘Honey’, the debut proper single from Harrison Bond, a young, bespectacled singer / songwriter based round these parts who has been quietly building himself a reputation on the local gig circuit and who has now also started playing shows in London.
‘Honey’ serves as a stop-gap before a longer release later in the year, and showcases the style that Bond expects to permeate that record – namely sedate, gently drifting electronics blending seamlessly with guitar lines that betray a schooling in blues traditions. The instrumental intro to ‘Fingers’ is almost horizontal in its laidback outlook, shimmering synth patterns and summery guitar sounding somewhere between inclusive old-school Balearic chill and The KLF’s American road-trip on Chill Out.

The main track on the single, ‘Honey’, takes the same vibe but flattens the mood down into something more ephemeral, more opaque, balanced on that intriguing fault line between optimism and pessimism that writers like me get universally excited about. Bond’s restrained vocal here has the air of a confessional, combining quiet anguish and lovesick desperation in one tidy package.

Expect great things.

‘Honey’ is available at the iTunes Store.

(c) 2016 Mat Smith / Documentary Evidence