Black Honey has just unveiled their new single, ‘Shallow,’ a swaggering track perfectly suited for festival stages. Despite its infectious energy, the song isn’t simply a crowd-pleaser; frontwoman Izzy B. Phillips’ lyrical bite is as sharp as ever, taking aim at a world that champions superficiality over substance. This release offers another tantalising preview of their upcoming album, Soak, slated for August 15th.
For Soak, Phillips deliberately prioritises raw intention and emotional depth over strict technical perfection, a balance that ‘Shallow’ deftly explores. Embracing a new, stream-of-consciousness writing style, the album shifts away from the polemical tone of their earlier records, instead diving into nuanced complexities and grey areas. Backed by the band, Phillips’ lyrics reach new heights of acerbic brilliance: “Loosen the screw to reassemble / Backstage kind of influential / Drank your rider dry it’s so… sha-la-la-la-low.”
Of the track, Phillips states,
‘Shallow’ is about the brain rot, being a hypocrite and still participating in a social discourse despite feeling shy and uncomfortable. It’s a bit of a view from space and all whilst summing up the human experience into two-line consumables and clickbait.
Visually, Soak marks a departure from the cinematic inspirations of Quentin Tarantino (found in Black Honey, Written & Directed) and Wes Anderson (Fistful of Peaches). This album leans into a distinctly Kubrickian aesthetic, steeped in retrofuturism and unsettling geometric imagery. This visual backdrop perfectly complements the record’s wild dynamic shifts, ranging from gothic undertones to psychedelic flourishes.
