First Rodeo

iTunes Review

Despite its sticky-sounding name, Honeyhoney offers vinegar along with sweetness on First Rodeo, the duo’s eclectic first album. These songs fully define the quirky jazz/soul/pop pastiche first heard on the EP Loose Boots, making the twosome sound less like a casual fling and more like a serious endeavor. Suzanne Santo (who plays banjo and violin as well as sings lead) saunters through these tracks with confidence and knowing humor. Tangy support is provided by her multi-instrumentalist partner, Ben Jaffe, who favors loping rhythms and rootsy-yet-elegant guitar lines. Honeyhoney’s poppier side is whimsical and infectious — tunes like “Give Yourself to Me,” “Slow Brains,” and the zanily homicidal “Little Toy Gun” are bursts of pure catchy fun. Stripped-down blues/folk pieces (“Come On Home,” “Black Crows”), torch songs (“Bouncing Ball”) and quiet jazz numbers (“Sugarcane”) add some ballast to the lighter moments. Santo manages to veer from the Doris Day-like shtick of “Under the Willow Tree” to the soul-bearing testimony of “Oh Mama” without losing her aplomb. Honeyhoney deserves kudos for its solid talent, ingenious wit and playful ambition.