The Honeymoon are an utterly lovely Icelandic/English pop duo who supported Darren Hayes on his recent tour and released this, their first full album, in August 2004. They’ve been compared to everyone from Dubstar and the Sugababes to Fleetwood Mac and the Cardigans (I was thinking more along the lines of the long lost Hepburn and the never found Ben Jelen teaming up), so if you like any of those or just beautiful pop songs in general, then read on!
1. Passive Aggressive
Wayne sings the first verse, then Thorunn joins in for the chorus and takes the reins for verse 2 and the second chorus, and finally Wayne repeats the first verse to end the song. The lyrics are far from genius but there’s something very sweet about them, and I love the line, “Got my mind made up on someone else, and she reminds me of you”, as I often find myself wondering if I like someone for who they are as much as who they remind me of.
2. Chaos Theory
Starts a bit tougher with handclaps and a steady beat, but it’s as gentle and beautiful as ever. Thorunn sings lead on this song and you can hear her accent more on parts of it, which always appeals to me, being such a Europhile. Not as hooky as some of the other songs but is not without merit.
3. Reconcile
One of my 3 equal favourite tracks on the album. Nice use of the phrase “gonna fuck up his jaw” which is quite amusing to hear on such a pretty song. I love Thorunn’s breathy “I don’t feel good” and I’ve had the whole chorus stuck in my head all day. The chorus actually sounds like it should be a bridge leading up to a big chorus, but it’s so hooky on it’s own that a bigger chorus isn’t needed.
4. Truth Hurts
The second of my 3 favourites and if you want to hear it I suggest you pay a visit to Into The Groove very soon! Another great chorus which gets stuck in my head. This song is more emotional than the others and a bit more instant (it has even been compared to Girls Aloud!), so if they were going to release a single then this would be my suggestion.
5. Summers Gone
This one starts very prettily and continues that way, but doesn’t really have any catchy bits to make it memorable. It’s very nice as background music and there are lots of interesting instruments used, but it’s not a song I have to listen to again and again.
6. Stay All Night
Reminds me of Kylie’s Breathe at the beginning and is a bit more electronic than the other more acoustic-based songs. Lots of “waohw”s and tinkly bits, which is always fun. very relaxing but could do with an injection of fun.
7. I Don’t Know What To Say
Wayne takes the lead on this one and sounds quite indie, in the nicest poptastic way with Thorunn’s backing. I like how the chorus is quiet and soothing, slowly finding itself going round and round in your head.
8. Act Like You Know Her
My other favourite track and surely the most beautiful. Thorunn sounds so sweet and innocent (well, she is “loyal and young and infinitely dumb”), then the song gradually grows into what for The Honeymoon is positively anthemic! It’s so gorgeous and enchanting and just singing along to the words makes me feel upset like what’s happened to her has happened to me too. In fact she sounds like she’s about to cry throughout which can’t fail to pull on the heartstrings. Love it!
9. Out In the Open
The beginning strangely reminds me of Ainslie Henderson’s Keep Me A Secret, which in turn reminds me – Wayne and Thorunn are so a more sophisticated David and Sinead! I did think she was Irish at first. I like the continuous shouts of what sounds like “Ha!” in the background and the whole song, like many of others, makes me want to sway. It would be very good music to slow dance to, if I had anyone to do that with!
10. Moving On
A much faster tempo for this guitar-based song with firm statements of “You’re beautiful” from Thorunn. The little girl has grown up and knows what she wants. It makes me want to dance about with a tambourine. There isn’t a particular part that gets stuck in my head, apart from “You’re beautiful!” and there are some nice “oooh”s, but it’s great to jig about to.
11. Little Ways
This song is a short as it’s title suggests and despite being nothing to do with Vernon, Stuart or even Kevin Little, it’s a very nice song. Perfectly understated as ever, Wayne quietly sings the whole thing but it’s over before you can get into it and serves more as an interlude than another song.
12. Come Undone
Not a Robbie cover, hurrah! The duo sing together in this thoughtful song which is a perfect closure for the album. They’re being more forceful again, instructing whoever each one is singing to to “take some time and spend it with me”, persuading them to “see what I see”, which is, quite cleverly, what they’ve done with this album – they just want you listeners to give them a chance to impress.
Click here for The Honeymoon’s official site.