Honey＜限定盤＞

After the arrival of her first album of angsty, confessional indie pop/rock, The Baby, in 2020, Samia Finnertys profile only rose through the release of a pair of EPs (including a set of covers and remixes by acts such as Field Medic, Palehound, and Bartees Strange) and shows in support of names like Courtney Barnett and Lucy Dacus. Her sophomore album, Honey, explores love from different angles, with an eye toward noticing when its around. Recorded with musician friends including Christian Lee Hutson, Briston Maroney, Raffaella, and various collaborators from her debut, it was tracked at a North Carolina studio owned and operated by Nick Sanborn and Amelia Meath of frequent touring partners Sylvan Esso. Honey opens with an emotional bang on the candid "Kill Her Freak Out," whose simple keyboard accompaniment highlights a jealous narrative and lyrics like "Ive never felt so unworthy of loving" alongside threats of violence framed as fleeting thoughts. The album moves quickly to the demurer "Charm You," whose midtempo indie pop, 90s-evoking double-tracked vocals, and lilting bridge protectively reject affection ("I dont want to charm anyone this time/I dont want to make anybody mine/Mostly its just I dont want to end up cryin"). At this point, the albums just getting started on the emotional spectrum, and Samia goes on to adopt a sparkling, dance-oriented electro-pop on the insecure "Mad at Me," gentle folk-rock on the reassuring "To Me It Was" ("a good time"), and a rock club singalong for the self-loathing "Honey" before arriving at the contrastingly earnest "Dream Song," which closes the set with imagery of nature, blood, iron lungs, and death ("There are six minutes of brain activity after the bodys dead"). Whether autobiographical or a thought exercise, Honey is evocative and often relatable, if in turn inevitably alienating and mercurial. ~ Marcy Donelson