Black Honey have released ‘Insulin’, a thunderous new single and the latest preview of their forthcoming album Soah, out 15th August.
Frontwoman Izzy B. Phillips calls the track “accidentally accurate”, after what began as a throwaway lyric turned into a haunting metaphor for emotional instability. “Maybe I was thinking more about serotonin at the time,” she says. “But then found out [insulin] regulates your blood sugar and is directly affected by emotional wellbeing. It was king of accidentally accurate so I kept it.”
Tense and riddled with disorientation, ‘Insulin’ channels personal trauma through distortion and scale. Its jagged power is matched by a freeform lyrical approach that reflects Phillips’ evolving writing style: looser, instinctive, more emotionally led. It also points to the album’s broader tone: less polemical than previous records, more willing to dwell in complexity.
With Soak, Phillips has said she’s reflecting on a decade of making music “as an addict,” exploring messy emotions and fragmented identities. “Who I thought I was, who I was supposed to be and who looks back at me now are all so different,” she adds. “But I’m kind of here for it.”
Previous singles ‘Dead’ and ‘Psycho’ revealed a sharp, stylised descent into glitchy dystopias and dissociation. The ‘Psycho’ video, in particular, drew parallels with our own overstimulated lives, showing Phillips strapped to a chair, fed artificial realities until she breaks the system.
As with their earlier records, which nodded to Tarantino and Wes Anderson, Black Honey have built Soak around a clear visual world, this time referencing Stanley Kubrick. From gothic grandeur to retrofucturist psychedelia, the aesthetic and sound share a warped precision.
Black Honey will support the release with a UK tour kicking off mid-August, including dates in London, Manchester, Leeds, and their hometown of Brighton.
