With their infectious blend of good ‘ol rock ‘n’ roll, country, blues and gospel this Dublin six-piece have been impressing everyone at their own live shows as well as with key guest slots, since their formation a few short years ago. Though it’s never easy to capture the kind of raw energy they specialise in on record, Honey Skippin’ does its best to nail down their sound succeeding for the most part. With Polecat (and long-time Morrissey sideman) the legendary Boz Boorer twiddling the knobs, they blaze through a set that is impressively varied, veering from the current single, ‘Cruisin’ – an ode to the road, which comes across like T-Rex meets The Cramps, to the country-honk of ‘Midnight Train’ and the rattling, speed-rock of ‘Bad Jim’.
With a pile-driving rhythm, the title-track recalls both the Stones Let It Bleed-era and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at their demented finest, while elsewhere they burn down the road again on the ‘60s R&B rocker, ‘I’m Leaving’. They add some manic street preaching to the mix with ‘Chant’ before taking it down several notches on the soulful, southern balladry of ‘Long Way From Home’. With an acoustic backdrop and gentler backwoods harmonies, the album’s closer ‘Cold Winter’ explores a more up-to-date Americana of the sort which wouldn’t sound out of place in a Fleet Foxes set-list.
Not the most dynamic of recordings, albeit perhaps intentionally, the mastering is hot as coals with that compressed ‘loudness’ lending a demo-like quality to some tracks. That said, Honey Skippin’ is a triumph for all involved.