Feels Like Honey Interview
Hannah Jane Boissonneault, the songwriter/bassist/guitarist/vocalist behind Feels Like Honey, has just released her debut album All Things Endless. We got to chat with Hannah around this new musical chapter in her impressive career.
- Hey Hannah! Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Feels Like Honey's debut album All Things Endless and the themes you explore in it?
Absolutely! All Things Endless is a record that dives into the array of feelings that we carry while we are holding onto things that no longer serve us, and the relief that follows when we let them go. It’s a musical time capsule for me. I explored heavy events in my life that I didn’t realize I was still carrying with me, and through the process of writing the songs I was able to let them go.
Lyrically, I felt really drawn to metaphors of nature throughout my writing process. I played with a lot of water and floral metaphors that come up quite often throughout the record, and this was both intentional and unintentional. I love the idea of growth and how it manifests in nature and in humanity, both physically and mentally.
- Your music has been described as a blend of Indie Rock and Chamber Pop. How did you come to develop this unique sound, and what draws you to these genres?
I have a lot of musical influences, and I never felt like I could just settle in on one musical style when writing songs. I’m a huge metalhead and grew up on classic metal, rock, and grunge music, and I also adore indie, folk, pop, contemporary classical, and jazz music. I still don’t feel like my music necessarily fits into one box. It’s ever-changing and evolving with me as I continue to discover more super cool music that people are making, and that’s super important to me. My music is a response to all of the incredible artists that I look up to, but it’s also a culmination of my love for very dense, lush soundscapes. I’ve always been very interested in sound worlds that incorporate lots of vocal harmonies and instrumental layers, and this record was my attempt to blur the lines between all of the musical styles and soundscapes that I’m influenced by.
- What was the creative process like for this album? How did you approach songwriting and collaboration with other musicians?
In a lot of ways, this album helped me discover the writing process that works best for me. I’ve been writing music for a long time, but I only ever focused on the result, not the process. I spent many months attempting to write songs and feeling unhappy with what I was writing before I realized how important it is to find a flow that excites you. Now, the process is the most rewarding part for me. Piecing together the bones and the basic parts of a song and letting the song reveal itself is so much fun.
My process mainly consists of improvisation mostly on the guitar or piano, although bass is my main instrument. I think it’s fun to spend time with instruments that I don’t play very often, because I’m not thinking about the “correct” way to play them, I’m thinking about sounds that I’m excited about.
Once I’m done improvising, I usually record the instrumentals first before I begin to work on lyrics. My lyrics are usually derived from small threads that I collect in notes on my phone or in a journal. Snippets of my life or a fleeting moment that I can spin into a whole idea. Lots of brainstorming on phrases and how they fit within my voice and how I can work with them to flow in a way that works for me.
I spend a lot of time with lyrics now. When I first started writing the record, I struggled with lyrical content. In the past, I would often write my lyrics on the way to recording sessions. I didn’t like to spend a lot of time with them and I never paid much attention to them when listening to music. Recently, it’s like a switch flipped. Lyrics are so valuable for telling our stories. I decided to finally give mine the attention and care that they deserved and I’m really excited about what came from that. Most of this record originated directly from 10-minute improvisation sessions. I can trace every single song back to a single voice memo, and most of the time I stay true to the improvisation’s structure and identity.
The collaboration process ended up being seamless and super fun. I was so lucky to work with incredible musicians who are also my good friends. Despite the fact that most of the record was recorded remotely in separate areas of the country due to the pandemic, a lot of the musicians improvised and contributed their own artistry and specialty to the tracks. It felt so surreal as each track came in and each musician contributed their own unique personalities, like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. Collaborating with them taught me that you can still create the unity and togetherness of an ensemble while thousands of miles apart.
- Could you tell us about a specific song from the album that holds a special meaning to you, and what inspired it?
The last track on the record, “In The Mirror,” is a special one for me. It originated as a piece that I wrote for SSAATTBB choir and was recently premiered by the University Chorale at my alma mater, Michigan State University, back in 2022.
The lyrics are just one line, “I will no longer feel like I’m just taking up space.” But the track is written to slowly reveal them, so it begins as “I will no longer take up space” and ends with the full line “I will no longer feel like I’m just taking up space.” The song tells my journey to self-acceptance.
“In The Mirror” is a gentle encouragement to all who might struggle with self-acceptance and find difficulty navigating spaces in which you feel like you don’t belong. It’s a reminder that you deserve to be your full, unique, and unapologetic selves. You deserve to take up as much space as you need. It’s a reminder to lean into who you are and find pride in what makes you different.
- In addition to your solo work, you're also involved in other bands like Spirit Breaker and Blank Slate. How do you balance your different musical projects, and how do they influence each other?
It’s such a privilege to be a part of different groups and play a variety of musical styles. I love it more than anything. Being a part of Spirit Breaker and Blank Slate has been such a gift, and performing and touring with them have given me some of my favorite memories to date.
Performing with Spirit Breaker and Blank Slate absolutely changed my life and my view of performance. I’ve always felt most at home on the stage, but the pandemic made me forget what that feeling really meant to me. When I started playing in Spirit Breaker in 2021 and going on tour wit them, I truly found my passion for performing and touring. I can’t imagine my life without it.
Blank Slate is my “musical child,” and my proudest work to date has originated in that band. Jon Vokal, my partner and the band’s guitarist and co-songwriter, is one of the most talented people I know (he’s actually releasing his own single on Halloween!) and that group is a reflection of our growth as musicians over the 7 years we’ve been writing and playing live together. Our sound evolves with us as we get older, and we have a lot of fun plans in store for bringing the band back to the stage and releasing new music in 2024.
A lot of threads from all of my bands make their way into my solo music in Feels Like Honey. I used to see all of the different projects that I’m a part of as these separate entities, but now I think of them as one in the same. My musical threads and experiences will make their way into each one, and all of my bandmates and their contributions really shape the music into being what it is.
I’m so grateful to work with such incredible, inspiring people, and collaborating with others is truly what inspires me the most. It’s what inspired me to work with my amazing friends and musicians that recorded on All Things Endless, including Jon from Blank Slate!
- Can you share any plans for future projects or performances, and how do you see your music evolving in the future?
I’m still in the process of putting together a live set for Feels Like Honey. The music is dense with a lot of layers, and I’ve been working on how I want to present it live. I’d like to have a solo acoustic version of the set that’s more portable, and also a larger group put together that more closely emulates the record. I think it would be so fun to bring to the stage soon and eventually on tour.
Now that Jon and I are more settled in here in Austin, we’re planning to bring Blank Slate back to the stage again in early 2024. We’re excited to be playing a collection of new and older songs in our sets, and have just recorded a new single that we can’t wait to share soon!
Right now, I’m primarily working on a collaboration album with Grayson Jarvis, who featured on many songs in All Things Endless! We wrote “All The Flowers” together while pursuing our Master’s Degree in Music Composition at The University of Michigan. I’m really excited about all of the music we’ve been creating, and can’t wait to share more about what we’ve been working on soon.
- Lastly, what advice would you give to aspiring musicians looking to find their own unique voice and sound in the music industry?
I think it’s so important to be unapologetic about who you are, what you believe in, and what you want to share as an artist. Being able to share music with the world is such a gift, and music is such an important part of society. By writing your music and putting yourself out there, you’re sharing your own musical time capsule and giving your listeners a window into these snapshots of your life. Writing and documenting as much as you can is such a crucial part of being an artist. Stay true to who you are. Give yourself time to process, evolve, and grow.