- "When are we ever going to calm down? / Know I should do but I love the sound," sings Katy B over a bouncy Four Tet beat on "Calm Down." Every raver grows up some day, and the singer's previous album, Little Red, marked her departure from London's dance floors in search of a broader pop platform. Or so it seemed. On follow-up album Honey she's changed her mind, like the tired clubgoer who, standing in the cloakroom queue, hears her favourite track and has no choice but to get back on the floor.
As a metaphor for music, "honey" works in both club and pop worlds: each style emphasises collective work over lone genius, and promises a blissful sugar-rush. Tracks with the title bookend the album. The opener, a sultry modern-boogie number from Kaytranada, plays on the lustful implications of the sweet and sticky substance (Katy's songs about the dance floor are invariably about love, too). The closer is a kind of beat poem with gooey guitar and a tender verse from Novelist. Libidinous dance-pop and heartfelt confessional: Honey is an entertaining jumble of both.
It shouldn't be surprising that the album is a little confused. It draws on over a dozen producers, reconnecting with the dance music underground from multiple angles. Major Lazer's watery tropical house track "Who Am I" is an early wobble; Katy's gutsy voice will never have the airbrushed sheen of a Bieber. She's much better off with homegrown versions of a similar thing. A Tinie Tempah-less edit of KDA's chart banger "Turn The Music Louder (Rumble)" features one of the sharpest vocal performances. Tracks from Midlands producers Chris Lorenzo and Hannah Wants are glossy pop-house with a UK kick. The house and bass style these artists peddle can make for monotonous dance music, but as pop it strikes a good balance of rough and smooth.
More avant-garde UK producers have a tougher time. A soggy arrangement mars Mssingno's anthemic "Water Rising," and Katy's presence overpowers Mr. Mitch's calligraphic synths on "Heavy." But mostly Honey is a vivid survey of dance styles as they tilt at the mainstream. Whether grime (the D Double E-featuring "Lose Your Head"), footwork-tinged hip-hop (J.Reid's "Chase Me"), or strait-laced drum & bass (the Outlook Festival-inspired "So Far Away," with Wilkinson), Katy gives each style an infectious energy. Honey lacks the coherence of her previous albums, but as a love letter to the rave it's eloquent and sincere.
Tracklist01. Honey feat. Kaytranada
02. Who Am I feat. Major Lazer & Craig David
03. So Far Away feat. Wilkinson & Stamina MC
04. Chase Me feat. Sasha Keable & JD Reid
05. Lose Your Head feat. The HeavyTrackerz, J Hus & D Double E
06. I Wanna Be feat. Chris Lorenzo
07. Calm Down feat. Four Tet & Floating Points
08. Heavy feat. Mr. Mitch
09. Turn The Music Louder (Rumble) feat. KDA
10. Dark Delirium feat. Jamie Jones & Kate Simko
11. Water Rising feat. Mssingno & Geeneus
12. Dreamers feat. Hannah Wants
13. Honey feat. Novelist & Geeneus