Album Review: Brian Fallon – Local Honey

With The Gaslight Anthem on indefinite hiatus Brian Fallon is focusing on his almost equally well established solo career, his latest release “Local Honey” follows on from two solo albums in the past four years, 2016’s “Painkillers” and 2018’s “Sleepwalkers“, but this is not an album that is following in it’s predecessors footsteps. “Local Honey” is an introspective and earnest acoustic release that shits the focus away from Fallon’s previous releases and into singer / songwriter territory that addresses the struggles that life has thrown at him, and through this there’s a degree of commonality  with his fanbase, the struggles are real and relatable.

Brian Fallon is not alone in following this path, Michale Graves (The Misfits), Greg Gaffin (Bad Religion) and Nick 13 (Tiger Army), to name but a few, have all ventured into this heartland Americana territory ahead of Fallon, with varying degrees of critical acclaim and commercial success. Such a shift in style is a brave move, there is no guarantee that your fan base will follow the shift, but if you’re going to make music then it should come from the heart, and “Local Honey” is where Fallon’s heart and soul is right now. The eight tracks on “Local Honey” are some of the most simple and direct Fallon has ever recorded, whilst first impressions might lead you to feel that this isn a sombre and downbeat affair, there is a rich vein of optimism running throughout the album.

It muse said that his collaboration with Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, The War on Drugs) has obviously impacted upon the sound of “Local Honey” and taken Fallon’s sound into new territory, something that gives you the feeling that this shift in style is not an organic one and that Fallon is intentionally tearing himself away from his roots. This no grand statement, this the documentation of the Fallon’s struggles and challenges. Whether “Local Honey” will chime with his established fanbase remains to be seen, but this is an honest album and it’s one that reflects exactly where Brian Fallon is right now.

“Local Honey” can be pre-ordered, pre-saved and pre-added here