Local Honey: Brian Fallon Trades the Highway for the Porch — 8.8/10

Brian Fallon did not want the highway on Local Honey. He wanted the porch. Across eight tracks and 31 minutes, the record trades the sweep of his earlier work for something quieter, built mostly on guitar and voice, and turned toward plain talk about love that has had time to settle in.

The Songs, In Order

1. When You Are Ready opens the record on a warm, patient note, and sets the tone for what follows.
2. 21 Days keeps the record moving with a tighter, more urgent feel.
3. Vincent stands out. A quiet, character piece that shows Fallon’s gift for a plain, told story.
4. I Do Not Mind (If I Am With You) and Lonely for You Only form the record’s easy middle.

Pleasant, and calm in spirit, if not in word.

5. Horses brings the energy back, one of the finer cuts on the second half.
6. Hard Feelings goes into harder ground and earns its place among the best songs here.
7. You Have Stolen My Heart closes the record strong. A direct love song, and one of the finest things Fallon has put his name to alone.

Fallon never asks for more than the songs can hold.

He gives the big feelings to the songs built to carry them — Vincent, Horses, Hard Feelings, and the closer.

The rest of the record sits quietly around them, never reaching past its own means.

An Inside Record

One review described Local Honey as an inside record, one better suited to quiet mornings than the open road.

It said that in turning so far toward himself, Fallon had made his most plain and true outing to date. That is close to the truth of it.

This is not a record built for arenas.

It is a record about a love that has grown deep with time, and Fallon sounds, at last, at ease enough to say so plainly.

The Short Length

One review wrote that at just eight tracks long, Local Honey does not stick around nearly long enough. That is a fair point on its own terms.

We say plainly what we think of it.

Every one of these eight songs earns its place. The short length feels like discipline, not a failing — Fallon said what needed saying, then stopped.

Verdict

Local Honey is Brian Fallon’s most grown and honest work on his own, a record that gives up scale for truth and comes out ahead for it. This is our own regard for the record, set high on its own merits, and we stand behind it fully.

The recordLocal Honey Brian Fallon8 tracks · 31 min

1. When You’re Ready4:33
2. 21 Days3:33
3. Vincent4:18
4. I Don’t Mind (If I’m With You)3:49
5. Lonely for You Only3:36
6. Horses3:34
7. Hard Feelings4:12
8. You Have Stolen My Heart3:45

album review · Brian Fallon · folk rock · Local Honey · singer-songwriter