Review: Fox and Bones delivers spotless new album, ‘Long Time Honey’
The folk/rock duo leave no stone unturned with their best record to-date.
Scott Gilmore and Sarah Vitort yank out weathered building blocks to construct their version of existence. “And if you don’t say something, someone else is gonna say it for you,” the duo, known onstage at Fox and Bones, advise on their new album’s closing pillar. “Don’t Do Nothing” bookends Long Time Honey, a rollicking and fresh examination of life in its varied forms. With Greg Holden (A Great Big World, Phillip Phillips) in tow, both in songwriting and producing roles, the folk/rock duo bare their souls across 10 songs that feel emotionally significant and vital to this moment in time.
“Maybe a moment without modern stimulation / Sleeping on a bed that I own / Let’s build four walls in the forest / Write a few songs with our friends,” Gilmore encourages with the echoing “House by the River,” in which his rasp digs into the chest. Such is the case for much of the record, finding the pair seeking a reprieve from modern living and turning to music to alleviate the mental pressure. “Will we ever find our way back home?” they ponder with “Digital Wasteland.” The deceptively chipper anecdote serves as the backbone of the album, as Fox and Bones shake off their displeasures for something more fulfilling and light.
“Fill up your cup / Don’t you dare break it / Is it ever enough or are we full of holes?” Vitort asks in the title track, in which the duo observes that time is a relentless and sometimes miserable force, and we all only have one way to go. Dressed with jaunty production and crashing guitars, “Long Time Honey” both laments the frequent give ‘n take and relinquishes the darkness to the sun that’ll always rise again. Fox and Bones rediscover what it means to live, presented throughout the album in glimmering shades and colors. “Over the Edge” examines the cyclical nature of heartbreak, while “The Best You Can” urges the listener to take it day by day, and the rest will work itself out just like it’s supposed to.
Fox and Bones cleverly disguise their pain beneath textured musical layers that warm the system. Their sage advice is as important as the arrangements, that seem to dangle between the eardrums and inject the brain with a healthy dose of hope. Long Time Honey acknowledges that life plain sucks sometimes, but around the next bend, you could witness a rebirth. Despite it all, it’s worth waiting for — you just might find your true destiny.
Fox and Bones’ Long Time Honey arrives on Friday (May 17).
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