Album Review: Wild Honey - In Your Head

A concept album focusing on the teenage trials of growing up in suburban Sydney, the debut album from Wild Honey is a surprisingly grown-up effort for such adolescent topics.

With lead singer Thom Moore's youthful, whining tenor pushed to the front of the mix, In Your Head sounds like the work of some pop-punkers who thankfully pushed past the limitations of the genre while keeping its freewheeling essence alive. The problem with many of these modern sun-kissed bands is that most of them can barely carry a memorable melody on the waves of their surfy guitar riffs. Thankfully, Wild Honey's songs are hummable enough to have escaped this unfortunate fate.

Much like a Guided By Voices album, In Your Head seamlessly weaves the band's studio efforts with more intimate home recordings from Moore. Wearing their Beach Boys and Ric Ocasek influences on their sleeves, production on the album remains tight throughout. While the twinkly alt-rock and sophomoric subject matter of In Your Head are hardly groundbreaking, Wild Honey has created a work that a lot of Australian teenagers are sure to fall in love with.