EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE is the enigmatic new album from Toronto based band The Honeyrunners and another release from Canada reaching out to seek love across the seas. The band are short and snappy in the content with the nine tracks checking in exactly at half an hour. However multiple listens to the album make it seem a lot longer which can be construed as polar opposites when time comes to close the review phase. Merit is embedded in a record cut by a band who wear a cultured status on their sleeve, yet it makes no bones of working the listener to the point where at the crossroads some may choose a different path.
Those remaining with the album are able to call on a southern thread many miles from the northern climes of the home where dashes of soul entwine around a rock template drawing influence from an abundance of acts that sprang up in the early 70s. At times it appears a touch scratchy and jagged, alternatively there are moments when things really click into gear most notably the desirable and brass infused 'Honeymoon' as the album turns its corner into the home straight.
The fine form carries on in the rockier 'Mixtape' and we have reached the point of reward for surviving some of the earlier craggy efforts especially the album opener 'Run & Hide'. The lead vocals reside in the higher upper echelons of the scale adding to the rock feel and these interject with a soundscape that merges the soulful rock echoes befit of bands such as Alabama Shakes.
Although the band choose to end in the mellow chimes of 'Those Eyes', it is the more punchy efforts at the core of the album that probably go a long way to summarise what The Honeyrunners have created in this release. To this end an emerging key track in 'Wake Up' gathers more appeal with each play and the explosive title piece 'Everything is on Fire' exemplifies the enigmatic nature to the album.
EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE does present options and it is envisaged that many will fall in love with what The Honeyrunners has conjured up in this album. Merit and a touch of class does float to the surface in good time thus rewarding those choosing to ride with this record on its winding road trip of effect and effervescence.
