Honeymoon [LP]

by Lana Del Rey

Overview

Call Honeymoon the third installment in a trilogy if you will but there's no indication Lana Del Rey will put her doomed diva persona to rest after this album. Over the course of three albums, Lana Del Rey hasn't so much expanded her delicately sculpted persona as she has refined it, removing anything extraneous to her exquisite ennui. Honeymoon doesn't drift or float, it marks time, sometimes swelling with a suggestion of impending melodrama but often deflating to just an innervated pulse. Apart from the syncopated chorus on "High on the Beach," any lingering element of the hip-hop affectations of Born to Die have been banished and so have the shade and light Dan Auerbach brought to Ultraviolence, a record that feels cinematic in comparison to Honeymoon. What's left behind is the essence of Lana Del Rey: iconic images of days of Los Angeles passed, all plasticized and stylized, functioning as lighthouses in stoned, sad daydreams. Mood reigns over all on Honeymoon -- melodies and tempos certainly aren't prioritized over feel; all the originals are purposefully languid, which is partially why the Nancy Sinatra sample on "Terrence Loves You" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a cover allegedly in the vein of Nina Simone's original but bearing an organ out of the Animals, stick -- but underneath the dragging beats and austere arrangements, there's something approaching triumph. Where Lana Del Rey seemed weighted down by existential sorrow on her first two albums, Honeymoon seems comfortingly melancholic and that's the truest sign that it is the fullest execution of Lana Del Rey's grand plan yet. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	09/18/2015
Label:	Interscope
UPC:	0602547507686
Rank:	189

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Honeymoon
2. Music to Watch Boys To
3. Terrence Loves You
4. God Knows I Tried
5. High by the Beach
6. Freak

Disc 2

7. Art Deco
8. Burnt Norton (Interlude)
9. Religion
10. Salvatore
11. The Blackest Day
12. 24
13. Swan Song
14. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lana Del Rey   Primary Artist,Vocals,Mellotron
Patrick Warren   Bass,Horn,Oboe,Flute,Piano,Bassoon,Kantele,Strings,Clarinet,Harmonium,Percussion,Synthesizer,Piano (Electric)
Curt Bisquera   Drums
David Levita   Dulcimer,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Rusty Anderson   Guitar,Guitar Effects,Guitar (Electric)
Rick Nowels   Bass,Horn,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Celeste,Strings,Keyboards,Mellotron,Saxophone,Vox Organ,Percussion,Steel Pads,Synthesizer,Fender Rhodes,Piano (Electric),Synthesizer Pads,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Kieron Menzies   Bass,Drums,Loops,Sampling,Drum Loop,Percussion,Synthesizer
Leon Michels   Juno,Flute,Saxophone,Synthesizer,Synthesizer Pads
Roger Manning   Bass,Omnichord
Brian Griffin   Horn,Drums,Congas,Strings,Percussion
Derek "DJA" Allen   Percussion
Nick Nowels   Bass,Piano,Strings,Mellotron,Percussion,Steel Pads,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Roger Joseph   Bass,Omnichord

Technical Credits

T.S. Eliot   Composer
Patrick Warren   Effects,Orchestration
Sol Marcus   Composer
Keefus Ciancia   Composer
Bennie Benjamin   Composer
Rick Nowels   Composer,Producer
Kieron Menzies   Loop,Mixing,Effects,Composer,Engineer,Producer
Adam Ayan   Mastering
Gloria Caldwell   Composer
Mat Maitland   Design
Nicolas Essig   Engineer
Chuck Grant   Photography,Cover Art Direction
Phil Joly   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Neil Krug   Photography
Markus Karlsson   Design,Composer
Lana Del Rey   Composer,Narrator,Producer
Trevor Yasuda   Effects,Engineer
Emerson Day   Assistant Engineer
Josh Tyrrell   Assistant Engineer
Iris Sofia   Assistant Engineer
Chris Garcia   Engineer