Album Review: Honey Joy – II

Don’t be fooled by their name – London punk quintet Honey Joy aren’t here to offer you a happy escape from the harsh realities of life. In fact, this second album is a deep dive into vocalist Meg Tinsley’s fluctuating mental health. Half of it was written when she was signed off from her work as a nurse because of it, while the rest of it is a reaction to her subsequent recovery – a collection of before and after snapshots that distil her experiences down into bite-sized but still substantial blasts of melodic indie-pop/punk rock.

Indeed, five of these nine songs come in at under two minutes, and only the carefree, scuzzy, fuzzed-up melody of penultimate track Queen Ray is over three minutes long. In total, this record lasts for just over 19 minutes, but every single second is awash with a buzzy, kinetic energy that conveys the happy-sad duality of both Meg’s own personal experience, as well as that of life in general.

Opener Diversion Tactics is a rush of raw guitars that flits between the two extremes of joy and pain with sloppy precision, Finally Home is a hyper-charged explosion of restlessness that belies the comfort of home found in its lyrics, and Part One – The Contagion is a dark-laced, off-kilter of almost-melody that truly exposes the dark side, both lyrically and musically, of this record.

It’s followed immediately by Part Two – The Healer. While that song doesn’t offer immediate respite from what preceded it, there’s an undeniable sense of defiance at play throughout, the sound of almost reaching the light at the end of what can so often feel like a never-ending tunnel. That’s brought into even sharper focus by the trio of songs at the end – the jittery, snarl-punk of Raising Boys, the aforementioned Queen Ray, and the fast-paced celebration of triumph over adversity of final track Saluting Magpies – which serve as proof that no matter how dark and desperate things can seem there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It might just be 19 minutes long, but they’re a very important 19 minutes.

Verdict: 4/5

For Fans Of: Martha, Press Club, Petrol Girls

II is released on September 4 via Everything Sucks Music

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