The Breakdown
It’s bold enough, in 2021, to be releasing that elusive debut album that a lot of independent artists never even get the chance to do. It’s more so beautiful and encouraging when it’s done so well, by a band that is so spirited and adoring of the art, a band that knows how to express the densities of the human capability and understanding in such an inventive way. Supahoney, take a bow.
Hailing from Sydney, their soft-grunge approach to song writing, with the value of consistent releases, Supahoney have had an impressive breakout year. Their debut record ‘Every Cell In Your Body’ surveys the themes of connections and evaluations, accentuated with an peculiar soundscape, peppered with sentimental vivacities. Lead singer Dylan Wallace explains: “Conceptually the album explores the experiences of our adolescence and how we relate now to ourselves as teenagers. As young men our world view has started to change, and we began to question what was outside of ourselves.”
Intro track ‘O-‘ sets the tone with layers of reverberated ambience, as a melodic bass gradually increases in tempo and intensity before hurling into the endearing ‘Zygoat’. There are few better ways to initiate an album, as the cleverly quiet and eerie verses leave enough room for the chorus to explode with effervescent colours and exquisite textures. The poignant outro answers its preceding track in a marvellous myriad of ways.
‘Timothy’ see’s Dylan’s vocals rise to the forefront in an intimate way, as raw guitars and frantic drums accompany in energetic scattered bursts. Complexities pervade the song’s polyphony, as it heaves towards a chaotic yet rich climax.
Here we reach the longer tracks – the ones that tell stories through the power of production and text painting. ‘Kumail’ explores obscure time signatures and platforms a band at a ridiculous potential materialising together in fascinating ways. ‘Oozlum’ continues the beautiful eccentricity in a melancholy way, again blanketed in harmonies and precise niceties that become constants throughout this wonderfully crafted record. ‘Right To My Left’ begins with pulsing bass drum and menacing melodies, as guitars and synths saturate the atmospherics in haunting stratums. The track gradually swells into a frantic coda that would make for a hysterical live show.
The album’s focus track ‘No Messages’ emanates the effect of some reminiscent influences such as The Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. Returning to shorter-form songs, the disparity in echelons between verses and choruses is undeniably stunning, a fantastic encapsulation of both grunge and indie sorority. ‘Shoegaze’ amps up the distortion and heaviness while plateauing instants of quiet that feel like dreamlike hovering tend to juxtapose each other throughout the song’s duration.
Another interlude, ‘O+’ provides a moment of stressed stillness – guitar feedback and faint synths – before the episodic final track ‘Sunn Green’ stipulates emotional closure across an eleven-minute encirclement. Dylan’s vocals are charmingly sensitive along with the accompanying guitars that alternate in velocity and commemorate the intense journey. The dynamism and maturity shown here is praiseworthy and laudable, as each moment of sophistication rewards the listener for embarking on the voyage with the band through vast sceneries of vulnerability.
‘Every Cell In Your Body’ quite literally requires your full devotion and attention in order to appreciate the full weight of the experience, and to truly grasp the capacities and obsessions that Supahoney have come to possess in their enthusiastic offering. It is truly a masterwork from a group that has such enormous competences and such fine attention to detail. A work of art to consume in slow surges, with superlative returns.
Listen to the album here, out now via Samesame Records.
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