The Honey Bear CD

Here's an intriguing proposition: a new concept album from regular conspirators Warren Hampshire and Greg Foat (best known for 2017's brilliant Galaxies Like Grains of Sand), inspired by fictional book of their creation, The Honey Bear. It's an intriguing proposition, especially when you factor in the duo's insistence that each track is meant to represent a book chapter. It is, then, a serious attempt at musical storytelling, albeit one with an inherent sense of fun. It's largely pastoral in tone, combining folksy elements (acoustic guitars, fluttering flute motifs, attractive string arrangements) with neo-classical tropes (recurring melodies, subtly-changing movements), subtle electronics and atmospheric field recordings, mostly of the English countryside. Most importantly, it sounds great and captures the imagination from start to finish.