Yesterday, September 8th, London-based electronic music duo HONNE did a 35-minute live performance for La Blogothèque’s Stay Away show series. The band, made up of Andy Clutterbuck and James Hatcher, went live on Instagram at 6.30pm English time.
They began their set with a few endearing attempts to speak French, and declared that they themselves have always been fans of the French platform. La Blogothèque, operational since 2009, have been broadcasting a series of Stay Away shows since mid March and has seen performances by several British musicians such Mellah and Whitney.
HONNE opened with no song without you, a love song from their July 2020 album of the same name. The smooth vocals of Andy Clutterback shone through without any distractions, as the live version did not have the percussive drum beat and synth instrumental present on the album.
Honne is a Japanese concept referring to a person’s true feelings and desires. The duo chose the word because they fell in love with its meaning and felt it ‘described exactly what [they] were writing about at that time’.
It is true that HONNE’s sophomore album, Warm on a Cold Night, was deeply personal. A compilation of love songs with the cringe factor of Michael Bubble and Maroon 5, but with the added layer of digital production finesse to make it more interesting.
Earnest boy-band love songs have fallen out of fashion lately, but HONNE has manage to make them cool again. In the words of the Telegraph, their creations are ‘futuristic soul destined t0 re-invent baby-making music’.
The song Warm on a Cold Night is one of the band’s most popular, so it’s unsurprising that they played it as the penultimate number for their Stay Away show. The tight percussion and dreamy synths were missing, giving the song a purity absent on the album version.
Unfortunately we didn’t get the smooth radio presenter telling us at the start of the track ‘Okay, it’s 3:17 AM. You’re tuned in with your main man Tommy Inglethorpe// This next song’s gonna keep you warm on a cold, cold night’, a comical indication that the band are fully aware of the song’s cheesiness.
For the most part, the set consisted of tracks from the band’s latest album no song without you. All were performed with stripped-back production and only two instruments – three, if you count Clutterbuck’s smooth vocals! The result was a soulful and intimate set, in keeping with the band’s name once again.
