Sailor Honeymoon‘s Sailor Honeymoon shows high levels of talent and ability. There’s also a big push on “feel” instead of precision. It’s strange that the Bandcamp release is missing “Tofu is $1” though (as of 5/3/2024). To me, Sailor Honeymoon is an artistic exploration of the rock genre and its blend of sub-genres, instead of their description of an “offering that references various sub-genres of punk past and present.”
A good number of tracks were released as singles before the EP and most showed the best aspects of the band. “Bad Apple” is one of the best tracks. It’s a deliberate, grungey, and filter-filled rock track. It sounds closer to The Strokes, The Hives, Bikini Kill, and Sleater-Kinney in composition and arrangments. “Cockroach” has a similar tone leaning towards Seattle-style rock bands. But the spoken word parts of the song drain a lot of the interest.
The composition of Sailor Honeymoon songs is simple and concise. That’s one of their strengths. The verse-verse-to-chorus-to-verse-to-bridge moves quickly. “Fxxk Urself” is a great example of mixing English and Korean lyrics.
One overlying hurdle on Sailor Honeymoon is that it is repetitive. Most songs sound like extended verses in a long song. “Tired Angels” breaks that and makes it the most interesting among the eight songs. It walks in a different direction as a slower track.
I think splitting the EP into two separate releases would have reduced the fatigue. The first four songs were released as a first EP drop because they were previously released. And the back half of Sailor Honeymoon is a different EP.
“Tired Angels,” “In Dreams,” “Tofu is $1,” and “Count To 5” are more interesting than the first four songs. “Bad Apple” is a great introduction track but the three songs after add more weight to Sailor Honeymoon’s structure rather than add more layers.
Sailor Honeymoon is a good EP even though it lags on repeat listens. A first-timer will get pulled into the music and will get a second wind on “Tired Angels.” But if you listened to the previous singles, skip these songs and listen to the back half of the EP.
Sailor Honeymoon by Sailor Honeymoon
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Written by Chris P for Korean Indie.