The Honey Trees

Four years. That’s how long California dreamy pop duo The Honey Trees’ debut LP has been in the making. Such a careful, diligent, even leisurely pace is virtually unheard of in today’s music landscape, where the hype machine churns ever faster. But The Honey Trees weren’t looking for hype; they were looking for magic. And magic takes time.

Building on the songwriting skill and bell-clear voices they showcased in their 2009 EP, Wake the Earth, Bright Fire is a big-hearted, generous album. And it’s no wonder. Everything The Honey Trees do is a labor of love — from the songs they craft “to let people know they’re cared for no matter what,” to their merch and album art, which the band make themselves. The magic they poured into Bright Fire may have been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.
Ghettoblaster recently caught up with the duo: Becky Filip and Jacob Wick, to discuss the record.  This is what they told us about the LP, which was finally released today.
When did you begin writing the material for Bright Fire?  
Jacob: Well let’s see… it’s been a while now! We started writing for Bright Fire not long after we released our EP, Wake The Earth. “Ours”, the last song on the record, was one of the first songs we wrote for the album. We tried to rework it many times, and just couldn’t get it to feel right. We even tried a Phil Collins version. Lots of fun, but didn’t work out so well.  We ended up keeping it the way it was originally written, which made it a perfect short closing song for the album. The rest of Bright Fire was written over the few years in between the release of our EP and when we headed into the studio.
What was the most difficult song to take from the initial writing stage through recording and mixing?  Why was it so troublesome?
Jacob: “The Seaside” was one song that we felt we needed to completely tear down, and build back up. It was a little bit of an older song, so we had to be creative to make it feel fresh and new again. We were kind of stuck in the way we had written it and had been playing it live, so it was a little difficult trying to revamp it. We ended up first reworking the opening piano melody, which made it possible for the whole song to feel new, and it blossomed from there.  It almost didn’t make the record, but we’re really glad it did, as it became one of our favorites.
 Which of the songs on the record is most different from your original concept for the song?
Becky: For me, “Wild Winds” is totally different than how I pictured it would be. I had recorded the demo with just a piano track and one vocal, which I finished in a hotel bathroom on our way out to record, so it was left with a lot of room for ideas. It was one of the last songs we worked on in the studio, so I think we were at a point where we really wanted to start experimenting with new things. I had pictured it with driving drums and lots of reverby guitars, but both Jacob and Jeremy (Larson) had the same thought to try to do all of the parts that would be played by instruments with voices only. I was a little bit hesitant at first, but once we got into it I knew the song couldn’t be any other way. It took a few days, and I was in the vocal booth for hours, recording over a hundred different vocal parts. I had never done anything like this before, so it was a bit challenging, but it was one of my favorite parts of our time in the studio.
Did you have any guest musicians play or sing on the record?
Jacob: Jeremy Larson was a guest musician throughout the record, playing strings, horns, keys, and some guitar. On the last song of the record, “Ours”, we wanted to have some long clarinet notes, so he asked his friend Morgan Goodwin, who had played when she was younger. It took her about half an hour to record, and it was perfect! But for the most part, it was just us and Jeremy recording everything.
Who engineered, mixed, mastered and produced the record?  What input did these people have that changed the face of the record?
Jacob: Jeremy engineered, mixed, and co-produced the record with us at his studio in Springfield, Missouri. His input was vital to this recording, as we thought of him as a third member, and gave him a lot of free reign with his ideas. We were fans of his previous work, both solo and with other artists, so we were completely confident in him and what he wanted to do. He really helped us achieve exactly what we wanted, and more, for this record.
Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering in Los Angeles mastered the record. We had the opportunity to be in the studio with him while he was mastering, and we quickly realized that we picked the right guy for this project. He had an understanding for the dynamics of the record, and really brought that to life.
Is there an overarching concept behind your new album that ties the record together?
Jacob: We didn’t go into writing with a concept in mind, but naturally all of the songs, after piecing them together, definitely have an underlying theme of all of the aspects of love, romantic and not.
Have you begun playing these songs live and which songs have elicited the strongest reaction from your fans?
Jacob: We’ve played a few live, mainly “Nightingale”, “The Seaside”, and “Still I Try”. “Still I Try” and “The Seaside” seem to connect the most with our fans. It always means so much to know that people feel something from our music, as it makes everything we do worthwhile.
(Listen to The Honey Trees’ “Nightingale”: Download.)