Ask not for whom the gramophone croons. By now, Black Honey‘s obscured identity can’t be unintentional. Their demo “Sleep Forever” is hooky-as-hell, sinister pop noir, with a timelessness that’s strengthened by their mysterious identity. Lipstick-stained cigarettes and flickering neon come to mind, but “Sleep Forever” is about more than just cinematics. The female-lead vocals, vast in strength and range but appealingly bored-sounding, are a highlight of this track. Backed by a sultry electric guitar line, the song ambles through some three and a half minutes of brooding lullaby, evoking plenty of its own imagery without drawing comparisons to the band’s backstory. Maybe that’s the point. Black Honey comes across like a time capsule, undisrupted by a biography outside of their cloying brand of night music. Listen to “Sleep Forever” below:
