CD Review: The Sugar Honey Iced Tea’s Silver Spells

Some of my earliest music listening memories consist of sitting around the RCA console stereo/color television set in the family room, blindly going through my parents’ record collection. A 5-year-old has a severely limited reference when it comes to musical tastes, so whatever I found in that milk crate instantly became my indelible starting-point. And oh man, what a crate that was. Amazing records from the likes of The Chiffons, The Dixie Cups,  The Ronettes, and those punk protype bad-girls The Shangri-Las, all made an impression on me in ways I would not fully realize until I was a bit older. Those goddess-like vocal harmonies made from equal parts of innocence and sexiness really made me want to hear more.

And I experienced a similar, visceral reaction when I began to listen to the The Sugar Honey Iced Tea and their latest album Silver Spells. From the very first note to the last, the blending of voices from this angelic choir hooked my ear bigtime.  The vocals of Ana Mallozzi (banjo, cello), Emily Shaw (guitar), Kate Jones (banjolele), and Laila Aukee (ukulele) do harken back to that dirty-sweet Girl Group sound of the early ’60s, but that’s pretty much where the comparisons end. Both musically and lyrically, their songs rely on a wide range of influences far more diverse than simply early rock ‘n’ roll. Strong instances of folk-based Americana and bluegrass styles appear throughout Silver Spells, presented in a memorable and thoroughly original form.

The disc begins with the haunting, mostly-acapella “Blessings & Blues,” which quickly establishes that Sugar Honey Iced Tea signature blend of beautiful vocal harmonies. Each unfolding verse stacks another layer of voices, which creates a wonderful tension within this requiem: “Got a place where I spend my pay – Got a home but it’s far away – Got a friend and she fills my cup – When I count my blessings they dont add up …”

“Sister Stay Away” is simply a great song. This quirky upbeat number spotlights the ladies’ musical astuteness, and utilizes a sneaky rhythm made of little more than drums and banjo to punctuate the admonition being offered: “A man will take what he can use. A shine can’t hide the shit on his shoes. You better wipe his mouth if he’s kissing on you … sister stay away, he’s got the blues!” The ladies would be wise to send this one over to Lucinda Williams to consider covering, as it’s got hit written all over it!

Perhaps no track on Silver Spells better utilizes that classic Phil Spector-produced essence than “Howl.” This superbly strange amalgam of American folk and doo-wop creates a sound that is both retro and cutting-edge. Admittedly, it doesn’t employ the telltale instrumentation of 10 pianos and echo chambers galore as Spector’s Wall Of Sound did, but contained throughout is that ethereal soul and spirit that truly made those records magical. You can’t bottle it – you can’t sell it. But there issomething there. From the opening inverted “Be My Baby” drumbeat, the song billows away to explain the singer’s apparent resignation to the fact that life is what it is: “What can I do now? What can I do now? Howl at the moon now? Howl at the moon now?”

True to their namesake, The Sugar Honey Iced Tea are sincerely a satisfying refreshment in what sometimes seems an unrelenting and sweltering creative void. This rarefied talent has only been on the scene for a few years now,  but the quartet that came together through a series of open-mic appearances has already landed a profile in the Andy Warhol founded publication Interview Magazine. I’m certain even higher honors await them, but as for today, Silver Spells easily makes my personal list for Best Albums of 2014.