The Honored Guests
Please Try Again
Chapel Hill, NC
The last time The Honored Guests put out a full-length record was in 2006 with the experimental pop sounds of Tastes Change. Decidedly a “grower,” Tastes Change left the band exhausted after months of touring to no avail.
Two years later, The Honored Guests decided to try again, this time with a reenergized passion for the music. The 11 songs on the new record resonate with understated self-confidence. Russ Baggett’s lead vocals sound of a man with 200 years of perspective; they evoke feelings of detached acceptance, of “what will be will be.” Similarly, the music undulates with life’s twists and turns. “Paper Trails” begins with dreamy harmonies, approximating something between Fleet Foxes and The Flaming Lips, only to dissolve into a power chord-driven chorus that bounces with lively keys, and likewise, stark feedback disrupts “Emergency’s” resolved, mid-tempo guitar picking and tambourine-emphasized drumming.
The Honored Guests have learned the value of patience coupled with perseverance. By taking two years off, the band allowed their project to breathe with life; in fact, the project breathes with the life of Chapel Hill. (Breakfast Mascot Records)
Recorded by Russell Bagget, Andrew Kinghorn, Patrick O’Neil, and Jeremy Buenviaje