A day late and a buck short on this one; blame it on my body falling apart at the seams at the same time that work is trying to bury me alive.  That, however, won’t stop me from my twofold quest to do more of these columns and also dive deeper into the world of shoegaze (pronounced like Fugazi).  My esteemed colleague and former wombmate Vincent has been slowly trying to infect us with the noodly tentacles of fuzzed out bliss, and that is what initially sparked my interest in Mad Honey’s debut album Satellite Aphrodite.

Not only is Satellite Aphrodite Mad Honey’s debut, it is also a certified Deathwish Records release. While Deathwish is not a label that I would initially associate with a genre like shoegaze, one listen to Aphrodite is enough to make me immediately recognize the sound and style of labelmates that have come before them.  After all, Deathwish is the label that is responsible for Sunbather, so it’s not a stretch to have them dip their toes into something that isn’t slamming hardcore.  To their credit as well, the Oklahoma City quintet do a wonderful job of blending together punk ideals with pop sensibilities, effortlessly going back and forth between fuzzy, blown out chords, dreamlike melodic hooks, acoustic strumming and pummeling noise before circling back around to do it all over again.  

Singles “Fold” and “r u feeling it?” prepare you for the softer bits, especially the former’s delicate hooks and the latter’s auto-tuned vocals (if that phrase just made your skin crawl, it comes out a lot better than you think it does).  But I think where this album really shines is where the ball drops and it gets way heavier than I was expecting it to.  Opening track “Tuff’s Last Stand” gently eases you in, but when follow-up “Heavier Still” drops, it’s an exciting and ear-catching change of pace.  The track is, actually, as advertised.  Similarly, the midsection of “Eileen” is borderline crushing, and it works really well as a centerpiece for the album.  Obviously, shoegazi is all about dynamics, and Mad Honey excel at playing with soft and harsh, loud and quiet, both in an individual song and through Satellite Aphrodite as a whole.  The flow of the album is perfect for keeping my attention, and the balance between textures and volumes works really well with my brain chemistry.  For me, last four tracks on the album are absolutely where it’s at, which includes the standout “Psycho.”  Between the gorgeous chords, haunting vocals, simple yet effective melodies and the wash of sound that takes me away I can feel this is a song that I am going to have a very hard time getting out of my brain.  “Kamakura” follows with gentle acoustic crooning and an almost boombox-era Mountain Goats vibe in the production, before “Concentration” brings the heaviness back in, with an almost post-rock level of crunch.  The title track rounds the album out with hooky pop melancholy.  You get a little of everything the band is about, and it definitely leaves you wanting more almost immediately.

Are Mad Honey destined for greatness?  Time will tell, but I will say this about Satellite Aphrodite: it is coming to me from the right place at the right time, and I am having a ball listening to it.  This is incredibly solid, memorable and surprisingly nuanced for a debut album.  It doesn’t do a lot to push the boundaries, but it is reminding me how much fun it can be to take a break from all the releases that have been beating me senseless (and between Gridlink, Cryptopsy and Tomb Mold there have been a TON of amazing heavy releases lately).  I really ought to write these kinds of albums up more, huh?

— Ian

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Satellite Aphrodite is available now on Deathwish, Inc.  For more information on Mad Honey, visit their Instagram page.