Black Honey // Madonna

Yesterday, the top homo sapiens at Crack In The Road engulfed a musically-inclined corner of Twitter with an image that showed just how few women were performing at this year’s Reading (and Leeds, for our northern sins) ‘Festival’. No rational person who has progressed past the Victorian era could fail to agree that this is a massive problem; but for what our tuppence is worth, it seems like a problem of inclusion that indie/rock music is struggling with, and partly a reflection of the way that that shadowy figure known as the ‘music industry’ is run (or, more accurately, who by).

It’s a massive question that requires a great deal more attention, but whatever its wider implications may be, you’ve got to appreciate the serendipitous timing of the female-fronted Black Honey, who dropped their new single ‘Madonna’ today. Of course, it was only intended to be another reminder of their knack for gritty, swirling, melody heavy tunes (which it is), but considering the timing, it’s also the perfect riposte to Mr Melvin Benn. To their arguments that they just book bands that pull in the punters, well, here you go; this should do it.

Feminist outrage or none, ‘Madonna’s kaleidoscopic swagger is enough to shout about. It’s close enough to impossible not to get swallowed up by those shimmering guitars that frame a chorus so big it sounds like it might have its own gravitational pull. The type that deserves to be scaling charts and getting bellowed by worse-for-wear crowds at festivals (presumably not of the Reading and Leeds variety, of course). It’s out today on Duly Noted, and they’re also auctioning the first five copies on eBay until Friday, which come packed with unique polaroids. Pretty cool way of distributing decent tunes, if you ask us.