Up til now I had neither heard, nor heard of Luna Honey, and considering 'Bound' is their seventh album since their 2018 debut, 'Peace Will Grind You Down,' it seems a bit unusual that a band like this would be flying under Chain D.L.K.'s radar, as they are everything we're interested in, and everything mainstream music sites are not. The Philly-based experimental dark rock trio consists of the core of Maura Pond (vox, bari tenor guitar, bells, uke, gong, kazoo, etc.), Benjamin Schurr (guitar, mandolin, tape loops, synths, etc.), and Levi Flack (bass, beat, guitar, etc.). Supporting players on 'Bound' are Dan Angel (drums) and Roger Martinez (double bass). I listened to this album once first, and then strolled through their previous discography to check on Luna Honey's evolution, and yes, there is quite an evolution.

While some of their musical format here is similar to what they've done in the past (downtempo or no tempo, murder ballad melancholy, etc.) Luna Honey has really expanded their sonic and songwriting palette on 'Bound.' What makes Luna Honey really click is Maura's voice, which at times is as fragile as a delicate flower, and at others, somewhat like a madwoman. The album opens strong with an uneasy but powerful track titled "Kerosene," which finds Maura more on the madwoman end of the vocal spectrum. The rhythm is like a punch to the gut and noise rock guitars wail incessantly. A very strong track. Woozy sawtooth bass synth begins "Vacuum Cleaner," which is an ode to...a vacuum cleaner, of course! Here Maura pours on the faux operatic vox, something I hadn't heard her do in previous releases. There are more wailing guitars (and maybe other instruments too?) but it's Maura's voice you will remember most from this track. It's fitting that "Barbie Cake" has a sort of strolling hipster beat, and Maura tears into it like it was her last dessert ever. Title track 'Bound" is the first one on the album to sound like a murder ballad, and with the opening line "Like all of god's creatures, I am bound for the grave. I'll carry myself there and nourish the ground..." it certainly seems like one, but the hypnotic rhythm that creeps into it puts the song squarely in Swans territory. "Lead" rhapsodizes about the varrious uses of that particular metal. Maura's vocal style on this one seems closer to things she's done previously, holding/sustaining a note on a word in certain phrases, calm one moment, then powerful the next. Tension is provided by a repetitive guitar arpeggio and measured drumming. "Snarge" is quite strange with enigmatic lyrics, a hypnotic beat and vocals that are rather laid back compared to some of the previous. "Lemons" reminds me of the Vancouver downtempo trip hop band Perfume Tree, and just may be the most normal track on the album. "Gravity" seems lighter than air with Maura's voice floating lightly through ambient bass and background sounds and barely there pads. It's really a song of disconnection, when it seems better to live in a pleasant memory than face the real world. "Hriddel" is ambient lyrical vocals and synth, the briefest track on the album. On the last track, "Shore," Maura's abstract vocals are backed by drones and light percussion, and I can't tell if she's contemplating drowning, feeling disconsolate or yearning for something that will never be. It kind of leaves you hanging, and I suppose that's the point. While Maura's vocals are obviously the focal point in Luna Honey, I have to say that Ben and Levi provide the perfect musicality and ambience to carry it off.

I think 'Bound' could have been a great album. It has a lot going for it, up until the last three tracks which follow a similar design in the laid back abstract vocal department. Not that any of those three songs are less important, but their placement together at the end just seems to detract dynamically. Still, 'Bound' offers more than Luna Honey's previous efforts, and that's admirable.