Review of Rising Up Album by Honey Ryder

Review of Honey Ryder's album Rising Up

Honey Ryder Rising Up Album

No question about it, there's a definite impression that this is some kind of major entertainment industry EVENT. Swanky PR company? Check. Name dropping press release? Check - although it does read suspiciously like their wikipedia entry. Gushing dedications section (I love you mum/dad/significant other/legal team etc.)? You bet. Yep, standing shoulder to shoulder between the new bombs from Green Day and Kasabian comes this, an epoch signalling record by artists so ubiquitous that the term over exposure hardly applies. Except that Rising Up is the debut album from Honey Ryder, a male-female duo from London whose first two singles Fly Away and Numb had scraped into the lower reaches of the top 40. Score one then to Lindsay O' Mahoney and Martyn Shone, formerly MTV employee and city banker respectively, and both clearly people who won't let the industry dog wag their career tail.

Reading their blurb however you don't need to be getting pissed in Camden every night to realise that their music is going to be about as revolutionary as free school meals. According to it Honey Ryder have toured with Will Young, Hue and Cry and - I didn't realise he was still going - Michael Bolton. Annie Lennox is apparently a fan, as is Roy Orbison's wife. Their producers have worked with Natasha Bedingfield. And on top of that, they've turned themselves into a company, in which you can buy shares secured against their future profits for a mere three and half grand apiece.

Predictably, this Dragon's Den style of securing an advance is a far more interesting story than anything on Rising Up, which reveals itself to be made up of a competent soundalikes of The Corrs and Glaswegian pop rockers Speedway, a sound now made in quieter moments by little poppets like Miley Cyrus. It has a few moments, with the previously mentioned Fly Away and Numb seemingly destined for next year's rom-com soundtracks, whilst the title song finds Mahoney doing a more than competent impression of Belinda Carlisle. I admit none of these artists will be signing on in the near future. But artistically it's candyfloss, music for people born in Croydon who insist on wearing stupid hats and drinking Guinness on St.Patrick's day, and the nauseating boy band sentimentality of Years From Now stinks. Right now I'd say a couple of scratchcards is a better investment than a share in Honey Ryder.

Andy Peterson


Official Site - http://www.honeyryder.co.uk

Contactmusic