Low Cut Connie
Hi Honey
Release Date: Apr 21, 2015
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Rock & Roll, Retro-Rock
Record label: Contender Records
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Album Review: Hi Honey by Low Cut Connie
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Hi Honey marks the point where Low Cut Connie make the leap to the big leagues -- which doesn't necessarily mean the group has grown up, however. Adam Weiner and Dan Finnemore retain a taste for the lowbrow, something that separates them from legions of overly tasteful retro-rockers and something that's evident not just within their lascivious lyrics but in the rock & roll of their rhythms. By trading heavily on those swinging, soulful rhythms -- a move underscored by the lead single, "Shake It Little Tina," a Tina Turner tribute worthy of its subject -- Hi Honey differentiates itself from the driving, old-time rock & roll of 2012's Call Me Sylvia but also the heavy blues riffs of the Black Keys, the only other 2010s band with a similar affection for the sounds and styles heard deep in crates of old vinyl.
Based on rating 3/5
Loveable lowbrow rock & roll revivalists Low Cut Connie reimagine the early-Seventies Stones as South Jersey keg-party killers, or the New York Dolls in Converse sneakers. The New York crew's third album features a sticky-fingered roof raiser about a "modern dude" who dresses up "like Tina Turner, '69" and shakes it around the house, while "Danny's Outta Money" spins an Otis Redding bass line into a hip-hugging ode to Connie's down-on-his-luck guitarist ("He's got himself some kind of master's degree/Now he's a New York bullshitter, just like me"). Thomas Brenneck, formerly of Brooklyn R&B throwbacks Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, lends Sixties garage-soul production.
Based on rating 3/5
Pickin’ over the old bones of the Stones. In the past couple of years, Philly retro-soul pushers Low Cut Connie have ballooned from a sweat-soaked duo to an equally soggy full band, and as they’ve grown in number, they’ve developed a thoroughly rockier sound..
Opinion: Excellent
Even when a mere year separated the release of Low Cut Connie’s second album from its first, the energetic combo made significant strides in honing its songwriting. While the band could’ve easily churned out another batch of sweaty dance-floor fillers for LP3, the band (with roots in Philly, Delaware and Birmingham, England) hunkered down to make a career-defining effort. Hi Honey bears plenty of the group’s trademarks, from Adam Weiner’s barrelhouse piano to Daniel Finnemore’s punk-via-Merseybeat melodies.
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