The Submarines Issue #36

Honeysuckle Weeks (Nettwerk)

By Kim Newman
Published: August 1st, 2008 | 10:41am

Husband-and-wife team John Dragonetti (Jack Drag) and Blake Hazard’s sophomore disc as the Submarines finds the pair as bubbly and bright as can be — with each other and life overall. While the duo’s first disc chronicled their romantic breakup and subsequent reunion, Honeysuckle Weeks is the story of a couple thick in the throes of love and how that emotion seeps into each facet of life.

From the fuzzy guitar pop of “The Wake Up Song,” which tackles the simple act of leaving the house together each morning, to the electronica-twinged “Sub Symphonika,” in which Hazard sings about home being in your lover’s embrace, Honeysuckle Weeks is heartfelt and earnest without inducing nausea. Surely lyrics like “I cried love, love, and the skies opened up” (from “Thorny Ticket,” an infectious ditty that finds Blake at her cheeriest), or “When you kissed me in ways I’ve forgotten / Love is a swimming pool with no bottom” (from “Swimming Pool,” an exuberant a.m.-gold pop track), would be cringe-worthy in the hands of anyone else. But Hazard, whose vocals are reminiscent of the Cardigans’ Nina Person, and Dragonetti, whose clear singing might be attributed to a lost Beach Boy, meld wonderfully. Their vocal tradeoffs only highlight the sweet harmonies and precious sentiments.

Tracks like “Maybe” are apt to summon comparisons to I Am The World Trade Center’s lo-fi dance while the pair’s explorations into dub (“Fern Beard” and “1940”) are a welcome departure from their plucky pop. Full of sunshine and blue clouds, Honeysuckle Weeks is an antidote for cynicism and for anyone who doesn’t believe that love gives us all a shot of happiness.