Released: 14th February 2020
Rating: ★★★★
Some bands make it look so easy. With soaring hooks, direct tellings of love lived and lost, and a fizzing ability to pack these into three-minute dazzlers – Beach Bunny feel like a band about to mean a lot to many, many people. Across their debut album ‘Honeymoon’, the Chicago newbies punch with the sort of immediacy that directly reaches into universal emotion and sets them on a path for packed rooms and festival stages full of singalongs at every turn.
Lead by the tales and tones of Lili Trifilio, each track on ‘Honeymoon’ feels like a raw story ripped from a teenage diary. ‘Ms California’ pours across seeing the one you love with someone else, ‘Dream Boy’ on letting yourself fall in love again, while ‘Rearview’ battles inadequacy in the eyes of another. Opening itself up for all the world to see, it’s a defiant record that signals what Beach Bunny have captured so perfectly. Ripping heights tumble against swinging grooves on ‘April’, delicate piano keys ring true on ‘Racetrack’, and the full-throttle drive of ‘Cloud 9’ takes things to new levels.
Feverishly fun, stuck-in-your-head moments, and full of glorious guitar-pop – ‘Honeymoon’ is a joyfully uplifting record that finds solace in heartbreak and hope.
Jamie Muir
