Showboat Honey

Description

There isthis curious equilibrium to existence: In order to create balance, the universemust giveth, and the universe must taketh. Kyle Craft, along with his nowsolidified backing band dubbed Showboat Honey, know this all too well. And thisis why their self-titled album, the contemplative yet restless Showboat Honey (Sub Pop Records, July12th, 2019) reflects that sturm und drang. This is basically an album centeredaround bad luck and good fortune hitting at the same time, Craft explainsThen, out of nowhere, I find love. Everything went to shit except that. Iguess thats how life works.

No trackbetter captures this duality than the sweeping Sunday Driver, about stickingto your guns, despite a universe of blowback. At this point, you get baptizedby certain fires and start to walk with the dead a little bit, like nothing canharm you anymore, says the Portland-based musician. Thats what self-lovesounds like to me, as aggressive as that sounds.

Thesticky-sweet title of the album is lifted from the brightly choral BuzzkillCaterwaul (Once you were the showboat honey/ But your ship sailed out). Iwanted to make something that sounded like a raucous collision of Leon Russelland Patti Smith, he says, But Buzzkill Caterwaul was the only tune thatended up showcasing that vision.

Thoughaesthetics veer from song to song, ShowboatHoneys steadfast formula remains the same. Drummer Haven Mutlz holds downthe machine with a 60s/70s fast-molasses groove that locks in with the slinkyrolling bass of Billy Slater. When Kevin Clark isnt bouncing across the piano,his mellotron strings swell in and out of frame. Jack of all trades BenSteinmetzs organ parts well up from the deep of the songs, while leadguitarist Jeremy Kales solos rip through them like electricity. On top of itall, sits the tongue-in-cheek phantasmagoria created by Crafts lyrics.

Lyrically,perspectives shift to imbue life into a cast of intriguing, mysteriouscharacters, la Bob Dylan. (There is not a single thing in my life that hasaffected me more than the first time I heard Dylan, says Craft. Itimmediately changed my life.) Johnny (Free & Easy) is seemingly about adate gone awry at a swingers party in the Hollywood Hills. And the twangy popof O! Lucky Hand appears to shadow a poor sod desperate to elude a hex. Itsantidote is the stunning, cinematic Deathwish Blue, which sounds like a deepcut from the book of John Lennon, about the lovesick salvation found in hisbride to be, Lydia.

Ifthats not head-trippy enough, the carefree sing-along 2 Ugly 4 NY features alyrical reference to a previous incarnation of Craft. Its lyricsDont wannasee Death strum for cash downtown/ Or the look on his face when the change hitsthe case on the groundcall out his early days in Portland when he went by themoniker of Hobo Grim. Busking downtown, hed cover country tunes while dressedas the Grim Reaper so as to conceal his true identity.

Craftstarted writing about as soon as he could play the guitar at the age of 15. Hegrew up in the isolated Mississippi River town of Vidalia, Louisiana where hischops werent honed in a woodshed, but rather an old, dingy meat freezer thatwas out of commission. When asked aboutthe first song hed ever written, he laughs, saying it was an angsty-rocktune and a rare bird of how bad a song could be.

Afteryears of touring, two LPs with Sub Pop Records, and solidifying the band, hessince grown into a prodigious songwriter, to say the least. The band recorded Showboat Honeyco-produced by Craft,Clark, and Slaterat their own Moonbase Studios in Portland over 2018. Weapproached this record differently for sure, Craft says. Id make a demo, andafter putting the songs together, shoot it to the band for ideas. Tracks suchas Broken Mirror Pose ended up being highly collaborative, while otherssettled into Crafts original vision. Deathwish Blue, for instance, wastracked in a similar fashion to his solo debut, Dolls of Highland, with Craft tracking every instrument byhimself.

Kyle andthe members of Showboat Honey worked at such a feverish wine-fueled pace thatthey actually ended up with two completely different albums. But at the end ofthe day, they decided to combine the two into what is now Showboat Honey, a moonstruck rock n roll record teeming withreckless abandon.

Wethought we had the album done at one point. But at the last minute, I was like,Shit, this isnt the album. This isnt it, Kyle says. It was just a gutfeeling. Im glad for that because I feel like I ended up writing some of thebest songs Ive ever written.