Album review: HONEY AND THE BEAR – Wish & A Tide

Website [Release date 23.04.26]

Honey and The Bear is a duo consisting of husband and wife Jon and Lucy Hart. Jon plays guitar and electric guitar with Lucy as the main vocalist, and they both play double bass and bouzouki. They are based in East Anglia and call Suffolk their home, with many of their songs based upon folklore and their own experiences of Suffolk. They are accompanied on the album by Toby Shaer (flutes, whistles, fiddle), Archie Churchill-Moss (diatonic button accordion), Evan Carson (percussion and bodhrán) and Graham Coe (cello).

The single, ‘Close to the Edge’, opens the album and is a natural single, with its jaunty melody courtesy of the flute playing of Toby Shear. ‘Rush In’ is has a similar upbeat melody, this time driven by acoustic guitar. Both will doubtless become staples of their live set.

‘The Air We Breathe’ is what you’d imagine a female & male Simon & Garfunkel would sound like. A song about their planting of over 100 oaks since their daughter was born.

The Hart’s vocals combine so well throughout the album, none more so than on ‘What’s Left for Wishing’. ‘Cruel Mistress’, whose lyric is about the erosion of the Suffolk coastline and people losing their homes, sounds like Sandy Denny era Fairport Convention. High praise perhaps, but definitely worth it.

The gentle refrain of ‘Everything Will Be OK’ is a perfect song for the current times. The percussion and vocals in particular stand out on this song.

Honey and the Bear maintain their high musical standards on ‘Wish & A Tide’ and anyone after an enjoyable and uplifting album of traditional sounding folk music look no further. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie

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