{"id":236608,"date":"2026-05-19T12:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/236608\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:35:10","slug":"brooklyns-honey-vhs-swaddle-their-folk-rock-in-analog-warmth-on-with-pulp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/236608\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn’s HONEY VHS swaddle their folk-rock in analog warmth on “With Pulp”"},"content":{"rendered":"

For \u201cNovember\u201c, Honey VHS pulled the band off the song. The Brooklyn duo had tried a layered studio version, the way they\u2019d tracked most of their debut EP \u201cWith Pulp<\/a>\u201d at Lucas Saur\u2019s place, but it drifted from what the song was.<\/p>\n

With Pulp by Honey VHS<\/a><\/p>\n

So they took it home to Luca Moneti Schliemann\u2019s apartment in Ridgewood and recorded it at the foot of his bed, where they\u2019d written it in the first place. That\u2019s the version on the record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Pulp\u201d came out March 28. Eight songs, written by vocalist Cameron Roberts and guitarist Schliemann, who\u2019d been co-writing in Luca\u2019s apartment for about a year, passing voice notes back and forth and slowly turning the room into an analog studio.<\/p>\n

\"HONEY\"HONEY<\/p>\n

The two of them come from different corners (blues, classic rock, folk, country, alternative) and the EP carries traces of all of it without committing fully to any.<\/p>\n

Most of the record was tracked at Saur\u2019s studio. Saur produced, engineered, mixed, and played keys, bass, cello, and guitar across the EP.<\/p>\n

He also brought in Pele Greenberg on percussion and Alex Harwood on electric and slide guitar. Amy Dragon mastered. Roberts and Schliemann handled the videos and album art themselves.<\/p>\n

\"HONEY\"HONEY<\/p>\n

The studio setup tracked percussion, guitar, bass, and vocals together in single full takes. \u201cI wanted the center of each song to be a live full take, especially for vocals,\u201d Roberts says.<\/p>\n

From there, the arrangements grew. \u201cJet Lag\u201d and \u201cNever Left the Ground\u201d both started as two-person sketches before Saur, Greenberg, and Harwood pushed them into bigger shapes with cello, slide guitar, percussion, and keys layered on top.<\/p>\n

\"HONEY\"HONEY<\/p>\n

Roberts calls the underlying decision \u201ccaptured vs. constructed\u201d, and it shaped most of the studio calls. Some songs accepted the layers. \u201cNovember\u201d didn\u2019t. They tried it both ways, the stripped version held, and they let it stand.<\/p>\n

The \u201cNovember\u201d video stays in the same physical world as the recording. Roberts and Schliemann shot it themselves in Ridgewood, with no stylization. A specific stoop, the M train, the light outside Luca\u2019s apartment. Roberts says the video probably says more about how they see the project than anything more polished they\u2019ve put out.<\/p>\n

\"HONEY\"HONEY<\/p>\n

The voice-notes habit runs through everything. \u201cI\u2019m very inspired by the voice notes that songwriters make immediately after they\u2019ve written something,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s almost always my best take of a song and I\u2019m just trying to recreate that emotion moving forward.\u201d That instinct fed the decision to record live to tape, which fed the analog studio at Luca\u2019s, which fed the name Honey VHS.<\/p>\n

\"HONEY\"HONEY<\/p>\n

The next batch of songs is being tracked at that home studio, to tape, leaning more folk-driven and Blaze Foley-adjacent. It will also bring in the voices of Joe Bailey and Schliemann alongside Roberts. Bailey, who plays bass, guitar, and harmonies in the live band, is now writing with them.<\/p>\n

Honey VHS play their biggest show yet on June 6 at the Windjammer<\/a> for Footlight Presents, with World Atlas and Nice Shirt opening. Roberts on vocals, Schliemann on guitar, Bailey on bass, James Steinberg on drums. Doors at 8:30, NOTAFLOF, $15+ suggested, 21+.<\/p>\n

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