Having spoken to the Honey Ants previously, I know that they only like to release stuff once they are entirely happy with it and so the news of a new single, the first in 4 years is something to celebrate.
"Happy Now" will certainly sit perfectly among their small but perfectly formed repertoire. Instrumentation, initially at least, is as ever is pretty thin on the ground, there are some drums, a piano and a pedal steel guitar but you'll have forgotten how bare the start seems by the time you reach the quite enthralling final chorus with a plethora of vocals filling out every available inch of sound.
The Honey Ants ( John Grimsey and Rebecca Hamer ) each take a verse, John taking the first and Rebecca the second on this moving ballad where they find themselves asking a question that is key to any lasting relationship -
"Shouldn't we be happy now?".
The first verse lays things out quite succinctly "It's not like we aren't trying, It's not like we don't care", and there is a sense of bemusement in the plaintive vocal "It's not like nothings there between me and you". The second verse only reinforces the issue "We both had a picture somewhere in our hearts of the way we would be but it looks so different than the ways things are between you and me".
From the bridge onwards the song builds and builds, the vocals become a duet and some additional guitar and keyboards take the song to another level and it feels like a big scale production by the end with the power of the vocals. It's a great return for the Honey Ants and we await to see what else they have up their sleeves.
Happy Now is available on all platforms from Aug 16th.