Infinite Honey

there is a reason why infinite honey (neil cotterill) both opens and closes the (semi-)recent beechfields comp, this city of neighborhoods… he’s the best artist on the label. that’s clear enough listening to the comp, but it wasn’t until pulling out moonshoot again over the weekend that it became apparent to me how good these songs truly are. with moonshot — an album i couldn’t get enough of for months after its release — it seemed like neil was still figuring the solo project thing out. the confidence heard in neil’s work with sylvan screen was still there, but slightly muted.

on moonshot the occasional addition of drums, synth and backing vocals throughout the album sounded great and certainly helped to bolster neil’s efforts, but the added instrumentation never felt absolutely essential. these were songs written for a man and his guitar, and anything else — as good as it may sound — felt like an afterthought. this isn’t a criticism of moonshot, but a minor point “honeybees” won’t allow you to ignore.

because whatever neil cotterill may have been missing, infinite honey promises to deliver. the change to infinite honey was not only a final decision on how his new project would be referred to, but how it was defined… the influences, the collaborators, the sound it would aspire to. you can hear the confidence in neil’s voice… this is the music he wants to make. even better, he’s executed his vision well. the songs are solid as ever… sure to stand up on their own when stripped to their core, but written with a full band in mind this time, which one listen to “honeybees” will prove makes all the difference.

what’s most promising is that the two songs on the beechfields comp were recorded over a year ago… one can only imagine how neil’s songwriting has progressed in the year since. hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out, but in the meantime you can still pick up moonshot from the beechfields for just $6. - Kellen - the bat and the bird