Album Review: Black Honey – Written & Directed
••• Written & Directed •••
Brighton’s Black Honey return with their second album titled ‘Written & Directed’ on 19th March.
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‘Written & Directed’ is the follow up to the band’s self-titled debut album which was released in 2018. On ‘Written & Directed’, the overall message is a call to arms for strong, fierce and world-conquering women… A Rock ‘n’ Roll, girl power war cry to the band’s ever-growing cult-like fanbase. Black Honey‘s main protagonist is Izzy B. Phillips who leads the charge for the cause.
The band pride themselves of being in control of all aspects of Black Honey‘s creativity, this includes music/video production, fashion, publicity and artwork. The videos are a cinematic expansion to the songs.
Previous single ‘I Like The Way You Die‘ launches the album into a heavy and full-on attack on male egotism. Izzy lays the law down early with this tune, a law that she is not one to be messed with. The track pounds along to a menacing rhythm section.
Also released ahead of the album were the singles ‘Beaches‘, handclaps and horns accompany this tune adding a fun twist. ‘Run For Cover‘ is more signature Black Honey combining swagger, heavy bass and charisma. Izzy said the following about this track too, “I love this song. I hope it makes women find themselves and dump their boyfriends.”
The coming of age ‘Believer‘ was the third to be released and is all about championing yourself, the outsider and the underdog. The track is a cult leader anthem to the Black Honey followers.
‘Summer of 92‘ takes you on a fun nostalgic trip. The track fluently rolls along to a heatwave hippy vibe. Giving a nod to Nirvana in the lyrics too with “We play Nirvana and we stay out late, I don’t know where the time as gone, bleaching all your hair white blonde.” The handclaps appear again in this tune, does this tie the track to ‘Beaches’ in some way? The song ends with some Nah, Nah, Nah’s almost similar to the cult 90’s TV show Eurotrash’s theme tune, is this intentional or purely coincidental?
Izzy appears as a renagade throughout the album, no more so than in the self-doubting ‘I Do It To Myself‘. A track which shows that Izzy knows her faults and not only does she accept them but also faces them head on with the powerful lyrics “Yeah, I got bad attention, always overthinking, tell me something I don’t know… I do it to myself, i’m a walking contradiction.“
The only time Izzy really lets her guard down is during ‘Back Of The Bar‘, this also unveils a vulnerable side. “All I do is the dream of you, I’m dancing on my own tonight, dancing on my own” is sang in a sweet way, not a million miles from being Taylor Swift like.
‘Fire‘ is the album’s future festival anthem, the track is euphoric perfection, a tune for all the strong women and a warning to the guys to not fuck with them. “I don’t care what you have to say, we’re raising hell, it’s time for a change, we’re all diamonds shining in the dirt, I know exactly what I deserve… We’re Fire.” The horns in the track take this tune to an unbelievable high which will be nothing short of astonishing to witness live.
‘Written and Directed’ ends with a low in ‘Gabrielle‘ and Izzy losing her man to another woman. Although you would feel this was another track where Izzy lets her guard down, this is not the feeling you get while listening. It has a gunslinger vibe musically which makes you feel a little uneasy, like these two are female gangsters who are ready for war with each other. The whisper of “Give him back to me” is haunting.
“I made this record for young women to feel invincible.” – Izzy B. Phillips
‘Written & Directed’ is the follow-up album that arms Black Honey with a new arsenal of bigger weapons for their live set. This album will no doubt surge them up the festival bills to be headliners in no time at all.
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