Honey Is Cool: Early Morning Are You Working?

    If you'd ever heard of Honey Is Cool before now, I'd be surprised. I'd be less surprised that you knew who The Knife was or heard of singer Karin Dreijer Andersson, but even then I'd still be surprised. Honey is Cool is a now defunct Swedish indie alternative rock pop (pop not so much) group from Gothenberg who formed in 1994 and was popular in the late 1990's though CD sales were unsuccessful. Karin has since the break up in 2000 gone on to other projects, mainly The Knife, an "electronic emotional pop" group, which is what her and her band mate and brother Olof call it, but is really a new wave electro synth pop group that wears bird beak masks when performing. The knife has become much more famous than Honey Is Cool, having won a number of Swedish Grammis awards, an American Grammy equivalent. They actually refuse to attend the Grammis awards as a protest against male dominance in the music scene and did not performed live until 2006, when they first did so in 1999! Karin also put out a solo album, Fever Ray, in 2009, which has received critical acclaim, as an ambient experimental electronic album and she likes to also wear masks and do theatrical "artistic" things (seems common to Scandinavian artists i.e. Björk).

    So, Early Morning Are You Working is a little off the beaten track, meaning it's pre 2000 by a year, and it is self-produced by Rabid Records, owned by the members of Honey Is Cool. It also sounds a little grungy at times, especially with Karin's vocals, which can be whiny or scratchy or in your face with no apologies. So, along with the lo-fi style that isn't quite lo-fi on purpose perhaps is some unique music. The beats and rhythms are simple enough, but they are in little repeated sections, meaning a simple beat is established and then repeated along with a chord change or change of timbre in the instrumentation. But, what the rhythms are not is that same old boom chick basic rock beat that drives me nuts and screams for something more interesting and in my opinion a band might use because they have no real creativity or just don't know better. I do like how they use the organ on a few tracks, on "My Love is a Bell" in particular and the opening of the first song. There is a jungle animal "hidden track" just before that track and a lot of the tracks progress to jamming mode, just heavier, but not 10 minute solos or cacophony. There's good thought out progressions and fairly tasteful drumming, plus melodically they are pleasing to listen to, like "Something Above the Mountains". They also try and incorporate some non-traditional sounds, like bells or something that even might be trying to replicate a sitar or harpsichord on "Bolero". The only times I don't care for this group is when they are too grungy, Karin's voice sounds like it hurts to sing or they use electronic or synthesized sounds that are too distorted and overpowering in their attempts to be immersive like that last song on the album "The Giraffe".
    Honey Is Cool's two other main albums are Focky Focky No Pay (1995) and Crazy Love (1997) which has one song, "Then He Kissed Me", I quite like. I've uploaded "Bolero", which is nice and upbeat, and "Early Morning Are You Working?", which is more down tempo the second half and shows off the rest of their electronic grungy heavier style pretty accurately as well the first half, but with the cool organ section to start.