Local R&B/Soul Act

SuperHoney

Hallelujah!

Let's drop the pretense of all critical knowingness for a while -- I'd apparently been living under a rock when the SuperHoney assignment came to me. I listened to their latest disc, the part-live, part-studio CD No Standing (Moxxy). I admired the classic, slick soulfulness of it: a Boston band with Motown production values. The fuzzy funk and clavinet of "Above the World." The tasty cover of Bill Withers's "Use Me." The expert mix of various wah-wahs, Fender Rhodes, and Hammond B-3 with the occasional Benson-like jazz-guitar moves. The general all-around attention to songcraft. And the vocalist was like Stevie Wonder by way of that Jamiroquai dude, selling the same spiritual uplift but meaning it, with plenty of deep gospel growl and melismatic testifying. Then I looked at the photograph. Surprise: SuperHoney are all white, the guy singing is a woman named J.P. Flynn, and the band have been mopping up all kinds of prizes and accolades for a couple of years now. So, okay, I'm out from under the rock. When's their next show?

-- Jon Garelick