On a recent episode of the BBC podcast Miss Me?, host Miquita Oliver and guest Jordan Stephens of Rizzle Kicks were discussing the death of the band. To paraphrase, they said that in an age of authenticity where the cult of personality reigns supreme, to promote yourself as a unified whole can seem “corny”. Honesty, from Leeds, seem to recognise this conundrum: they’d rather be portrayed as a fluid collective rather than a rigid group, and their promotional images tend to obscure their faces with shadow, or just show the back of their heads.
To their mums, Honesty are George Mitchell, Matt Peel, Josh Lewis and Imi Marston(plus a revolving carousel of collaborators and guest vocalists such as Liam Bailey), drawn from the ashes of various former indie bands including Eagulls. But perhaps that’s irrelevant: with a clouded aesthetic, the focus has to be the music rather than personnel. Honesty’s debut album for Partisan Records, U R Here, is categorised as “unknown genre” – another knowing nod to their unwillingness to be boxed in – and blurs krautrock, shoegaze, trip-hop and alt-pop into a moody, grainy whole. The result is an atmospheric and expansive electronic sound, in places, a bit like a goth Burial – even if it is faceless. But in 2025, perhaps that’s more honest than anything.
U R Here is out now via Partisan; Honesty play a free album launch gig at Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds, on 15 February; the Workman’s Club, Dublin, 22 February; and tour the UK supporting Bdrmm, 6-19 March
