Honeycut

Who? The Statue of Liberty, Euro Disney, Jerry Lewis -- it seems that whenever the U.S. and France team up, good things happen, and Honeycut's debut album, The Day I Turned to Glass, is no exception. The band formed in the Bay Area in 2003 after Frenchman and keyboardist-extraordinaire RV Salters combined forces with lead singer Bart Davenport and "human sequencer" Tony Sevener. For two years the band polished their sound, eventually landing a deal with Quannum Projects after Chief Xcel of Blackalicious heard their infectious brand of hip-hop infused soul.

What's the Deal? On the group's debut album, Salters plays the role of maestro, skillfully using synthesizers to jump from one soundscape to the next, and "Tough Kid" features vocalist Davenport singing silky falsetto lines over his bandmate's pounding synth arrangement. Meanwhile, "Crowed Avenue" sounds as though Stevie Wonder's clavinet has been resurrected and re-imagined, this time accompanied by a crispy beat courtesy of Sevener, who prefers the MPC to the drum kit.

Fun Fact: Salters credits a cross-breeding of cultures as a vital tool to Honeycut's sound. "Since Bart and Tony are from the U.S. and I'm from France, we got this collision going on between American rawness and continental finesse," he told SPIN.com. ELI SCHWIMMER

Now Hear This:
Honeycut - "Shadows" (Download MP3)

Talk: Do Honeycut have a sound that sticks? COMMENT

On the Web:
Honeycut at myspace.com