Sailor Honeymoon make garage rock with a punk bite, fuzz on the guitars and a sense of humour that keeps the frustration from turning heavy. Abi Raymaker’s drums and vocals, Zaeeun Shin’s guitar and vocals, and Yelim Kim’s bass give these thirteen songs a direct, band-in-a-room feel, even with Luke Smith producing and Claudius Mittendorfer mixing. Bad Apple, Armchair and My Band sound like they belong in a sweaty Seoul DIY space, while the titles alone suggest a group happy to puncture rock’s usual seriousness.
The trio grew out of informal jams among women musicians in Seoul’s independent scene, then found a home on Good Good Records, the DIY label started by Raymaker, Smith and manager Russ Crank. That background matters because The Worst of Sailor Honeymoon feels less interested in polish than in saying something plainly. Extinction takes on the pressure of modern Korean society, and Red begins with 홍삼, a Korean medicinal candy, before pointing at wider concerns. The jokes, irritation and rough edges should appeal to fans of garage rock, riot grrrl and independent punk, especially anyone who likes a record that sounds human rather than carefully managed.
