Honne w/ Hablot Brown
Showbox, Seattle, WA
09.12.18

After launching to success around 2016 with “Warm on a Cold Night,” Honne have proven their mastery of a soft, warm, synth-heavy sound that seems made for the night. Now, two years later, that track still brings just as much excitement whenever it comes on.

The duo of James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck played a killer daytime set at Bumbershoot 2017, their romantically-themed lyrics reinforcing a specific mood. They returned to Seattle to headline their own show at The Showbox in support of their latest release, Love Me/Love Me Not, which really let them shine.

After Hablot Brown opened the night with their very “West Coast coffee shop” tunes, Honne finally took the stage with “Forget Me Not,” the closing track on the latest release. There’s something electric about the way these two perform. They don’t go crazy with their stage setup, outfits, or pyrotechnics, but the music just seems to sit perfectly with the crowd.

After releasing catchy, night-drive ready tunes for a while, Love Me/Love Me Not turned into more of a concept album. The first half of the album, with each track name ending with a circle shaded on the right side, is filled with classic Honne: floaty love songs. Then, switching theme with “Location Unknown,” each track name ends with a circle shaded on the left side, and the mood switches to more reminiscent and sad love songs, but all while carrying their usual sound.

The album wasn’t played track-by-track in order to let the story carry out, but the thematical differences in the songs were still present, adding a nice variety to the set when mixed with their older tracks.

“Warm on a Cold Night” opened their encore with a bang, with the whole crowd shouting along to the lyrics they’ve loved for the past two years, then showing equal appreciation for “Day 1.”

Honne is an act that’ll just always be fun. They’ve got bright, warm tracks that get stuck in your head in the best way, and they’ll keep you smiling far after the performance has ended.

Review and photos by Lulu Dawson

Honne


Hablot Brown