Eef Barzelay--Bitter Honey

Eef Brazelay, the writer behind the highly-successful Clem Snide, steps out on his own with Bitter Honey. A blisteringly naked album, it features a solo Barzelay with only his acoustic guitar, and is split into two parts. The first of which is "Bitter Honey," the apparent story of a hip-hop hottie ("That was my ass you saw bouncing next to Ludacris / It was only on-screen for a second but it's kinda hard to miss."), but is more an emotional and intimate look at Barzelay. The acoustic guitar is played softly throughout, but keeps the songs moving at a good pace. Wavering and cracking at times, Barzelay’s vocals mimic those in The Red Paintings and are simply Clem Snide without the instrumental foundation, and are deeply introverted and wistful. The second half is titled "Let Us Be Naked" and features a stumbling country-drinking "I Wasn’t Really Drunk." An edge-of-tears version of "Joy to the World" closes the album, a song that probably would not have come out as tender had it not just been Barzelay working on it. Overly emotional - edging in on annoying at times - Bitter Honey keeps it short and shows that Barzelay is indeed the lyrical and vocal power that gives life to Clem Snide. Still, the Snide foundation is missing, and shows that vocal power isn’t everything. A tender and interesting album, Bitter Honey is a nice treat for Snide fans and interesting look at Eef Barzelay.

(Published at MusicEmissions.com)