“Milk&Honey” finds Rotterdam indie rock outfit The Smackbar teaming up once again with art collective Eruption Artistique for something intimate and surreal. The band’s core trio, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer Emil, folk vocalist Sara, and history teacher–songwriter Bas, already have a reputation for building entire worlds from scratch, with homemade videos, DIY props, puppets, and fully self-produced tracks cut in Emil’s Charlatan Studio.
On their double-sided single Donnie Giovanni / Milk & Honey, the A-side goes full trashy garage rock, while the B-side, “Milk&Honey,” zooms in on friendship and addiction with a softer, bittersweet glow that still carries plenty of indie bite.
The song opens with shimmery, vibrant music flowing along and pumping trumpets. Then the reverbed voice of a male voice comes singing lovingly, tenderly, and touchingly. He sings, “We stay young night long/When you sit next to me and talk to me…” and suddenly you’re dropped into that hazy space where staying up too late with someone feels like cheating time. He also sings, “And you can’t stay for a day, and you can’t stay for a year, my dear.” The line lands like a warning wrapped in affection — this connection is golden, but it’s fragile, and it might not last.
Then the perspective shifts and the track lets even more light in. A female singer comes singing soaring, “Wake me up before you go,” lightly, ethereally, and tenderly, with her voice echoing, on a lone atmosphere. It’s weightless and heart-tugging, like a quiet plea not to disappear. Then the trumpets and other instruments return as she sings tenderly. Over the blowing trumpet and the glitchy, gritty guitars and drums, she brings everything together—the brass warmth, scruffy guitars, emotional vocals—all of which give “Milk&Honey” its sting. It’s sweet, yes, but there’s a restless edge underneath, the sound of someone trying to hold on to joy before it slips through their fingers. Check out The Smackbar and Eruption Artistique’s latest single on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan