Saturday, October 28, 2017

Live Review :: Stereo Honey :: Patterns, Brighton - Oct 25 2017





Live

Stereo Honey

Patterns, Brighton

October 25 2017

Words/Pictures: Steve Willcox

Midway through their UK tour, club promoters Hopskotch bring their three bands - Anteros, Yonaka and Stereo Honey - to Brighton. Last night in Reading was apparently awesome, and with a big crowd pulled into the seafront Patterns venue, word has obviously got out. Little Indie is here tonight to specifically catch one of the three acts, London four-piece Stereo Honey.


With their debut EP 'Monuments' due in December, this is a chance to sample the Honey boys' wares, as it were, beforehand. As they take to the stage, they look quite unassuming bunch, but once they get down to business and kick off with the synth intro to emotive current single ‘The Bay’, they exude a confidence and winning style, with Nicky Boiardi’s slow intro joining Jake Black's drumbeat that could have come right out of a 70s rock band.


There's no denying Pete Restrick's falsetto voice is a winning staple of the Stereo Honey sound: sultry, smooth, with the ability to reach those elusive high notes - though unfortunately a little drowned out by the speakers tonight . The songwriting too is a cut above, as on the aforementioned 'The Bay', inspired by the 2004 Morecambe Bay tragedy where 23 Chinese workers lost their lives, and the detail of an abusive relationship on the movingly melancholic 'The Heart' which rings out on emotional integrity. Both this and ‘Through the Dark’ were personal highlights of the set.

I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more from Stereo Honey in the months ahead. Definitely a band to keep on the radar.

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