Swedish duo Tuva Lodmark and Nelly Daltrey comprise Pale Honey, a minimalist indie rock outfit that’s just released their debut album, a follow up to last years EP ‘Fiction’. Originally a trio, they branched out alone to give themselves more freedom over their music going forward, and the sound is very individual – stripped back, bare and I think it has a lot of style. It has taken me a while to get to know this album but I’m now fairly certain that Pale Honey have something pretty special going on here.
Many of the tracks are based around a fairly simple theme. ‘Fish’, which was on last years EP was an early favourite track, until I heard ‘Bandolier’, with a great guitar opening and its laid back vocals. And i like the subtlety in ‘Desert’ whilst ‘Sleep’ is a lovely conclusion to the album. I’ve included last years video for ‘Fish’ cos I just really like it….
The contrasts of light and darkness also work well in the album – an easy listening floating guitar line will be quickly followed up by another with fuzz and distortion. But its not overly harsh sounding, it feels natural and each song skips along at a good pace - we never feel as if we’re wallowing too much in mud.