Their strongest entry yet, “Wish & a Tide” is crafted with a keen eye that brings joy and a warm signature sound we have come to expect.
Release Date: April 23 2026
It is wonderful and bright at the moment.
While the sunshine does not always reach the highest highs, and the warmth does not touch every part of our hearts; there are many things that we can enjoy that are more reliable than the weather and instantly put a spring in our step. One of these is Honey and the Bear’s new album, “Wish & A Tide”.
Honey and the Bear are a husband and wife duo (Lucy & Jon Hart) proficient in a number of musical instruments and spinning delicate yarns from history and nature from their part of the world (Suffolk, to the East). The joy of their music is that sometimes it looks back at the passages of times gone, and at others it takes a family or community turn; it has a kind of everyday relatability though not in the same kitchen-sink variety you might get with Megson, for example. Primarily it is an observer of quiet, beautiful moments that it shares without tying itself up in knots or over-egging the pudding. Like a friendly face you see at the cornershop whose eyes have witnessed the change in times with caring and sympathetic eyes; Honey & the Bear are a positive force that don’t take simple pleasures for granted and are willing to share this perspective taking you along for the ride.
For “Wish & a Tide”, their fourth album they are joined by Archie Churchill-Moss (diatonic button accordion), Evan Carson (percussion and bodhran), Graham Coe (cello) and Tony Shaer (flutes, whistles and fiddle) to bring and album they describe as “a collection of songs from far-ranging inspiration” that are affected from “life altering experiences” and a fortuitous run of a songwriting streak. Like a car tyre that warms as its grooves spin and touch the country path towards the family holiday; it feels that the quality of several of the songs have reached a high, even greater than the previous three albums. Personally, when travelling for a few days off you find that the excitement grows the closer you get to your holiday destination. Just before you reach the golden sands and full on scent of the salt air, the shrubbery parts on the horizon and the sea begins to peak over the top. Much like that glimpse you reach outside the car window on the late stages of this journey, Honey & The Bear’s fourth album is the crest of their musical experience and a quietly great moment for us.
Honey & the Bear can be strongly (but not exclusively) characterised by their combined voices; the mashed potato and soft butter which makes a hearty mix, but through strict supervision, is not too heavy or weighed down. Their harmonies work like the air bubbles spreading within to make the dish light and fluffy. In the track “Place Like My Home”, a song about a fisherman in Essex who is much longer at sea than they anticipated. The duo’s voices paint a quiet (wavering) hope that is a light to the loneliness the fisherman feels. Unlike as might be expected, their lyrics and warmth are a pair of arms that encompass rather than spelling doom or misery for the fish-catcher.. We like the swing of the tune, the whistle harkens to the possibility of return to the security of the family and the fiddle that very gently laments in the background.
The bodhran is a good friend indeed for the track, “What’s Left for Wishing”. It beats the sound of the wondrous sight that is the Northern Lights. Shaer’s fiddle brings a lot of light too as it combines the light, earthy percussion. You can almost hear the picture in your mind’s eye of the shimmering spirals and beams falling overhead. A simple song, in a way, that distills the joy of this phenomenon and the bonds it could create in sharing this light like a sky of jewels with others in a beautiful moment. It is an upbeat number that characterises Honey & the Bear’s happy moments amongst the natural world.
“The Air that We Breathe” is one of our favourites of the album. A song about the duo’s efforts to plant oak trees on the winding Suffolk lanes of their homelands is a jolly, moving and bouncing melody that at its edges is a warm sunny afternoon. The button accordion is distinctive, a dancing goat that grounds the adventure like bursts of sunlight through the leaves or the gentle rolling sounds of nature. The guitar is a day with the promise of doing a kind thing for the Earth and the next generation while the blue skies stream overhead.A relatively short song, it is punchy and Jon’s lead vocals don’t disguise the magic of the moment, “down by the highway, down by the by-way”.
If Honey & the Bear’s songs are a kind of vibe or sensory moment, then “Rush In” is the Daffodil scent you get during the height of Spring. Like many songs situated in simple pleasures, this one is about wondering about the journey of a pebble found on the beach, “when the waves wash, when they cleanse your weathered skin”. The acoustic guitar has a delightful familiarity, the tones that speak of the mellow, slow and aimless wander down the beach. You get a sense of the crystallising lack of responsibilities in the moment, the suspension of your heavy weight. Jon and Lucy’s voices are great, it could be the soundtrack of many people’s holidays this year.
There are also some brief detours from these themes with the song “Chain” about Boudicca, and the healing words of “Be Still” though for the most part it is like a channel of warm air and a fresh romp alongside the calming elements. For listeners that want to get immersed in the sound of a duo that can catalogue the spring in your step and the spark in a moment with a lightness of touch, then we recommend “Wish & a Tide”. The album is a spirited observer of the natural world that takes the clean, direct approach to encouraging you with its positivity. Perhaps it is like a David Attenborough that wishes to simply find joy without leaving too heavy a footprint.
Honey and the Bear are on tour at the moment, check out here.
We support buying from the artists direct, you can here, but the album is also available at all good stockists.