Honeyblood - The Black Cloud

Honeyblood’s Stina Tweeddale has probably spent more time in the States this year than back home in Glasgow. She’s been busy playing co-headline dates with 2:54, a slew of shows at SXSW, and support slots to Belle & Sebastian, so it’d probably be wide of the mark to expect there to have been any mitigation of a sound that’s already heavily indebted to American influences. Instead, the interesting point of focus on ‘The Black Cloud’ is the impact of new drummer Cat Myers, who replaced Shona MacVicar behind the kit last September. She has already had an obvious effect on stage, with the shows becoming faster, noisier and more energetic.

Accordingly, the percussive work on this Record Store Day release feels tighter and sharper than anything on last year’s self-titled full-length, but the more obvious progression is in terms of the looser structure. The level of aggression in both Tweeddale’s guitar work and vocals fluctuates, culminating in a late breakdown towards a slower, rougher riff. The refrain of “all we want to see is blue skies” shouldn’t work over the top, but it does, and ‘The Black Cloud’ bodes well for album number two.