Ben Platt - "Honeymind"

Queer Americana. Because Representation Matters.

Ben Platt returns for his third solo effort with Honeymind, and it immediately jumps the rails of expectation with opening track “Right Kind of Reckless”. Before I can really explain why, I have to ensure that you understand who Ben Platt is.

Those of you familiar with the bigger Broadway productions will recognize his name — his biggest role being, of course, Dear Evan Hansen, but he has played a number of roles over the last fifteen years or so. Then, in 2019, he dropped his first solo effort, which, given how incredible his voice is, I found a bit disappointing. Bland, really.

But his second outing, 2021’s Reverie,¹ blew me away. It was everything I had hoped for from a Platt solo effort — lively, with strong and melodic vocal hooks and plenty of opportunities for his talent to shine worked into the compositions. Instead of the bland sort of Pop-with-hints-of-Brodway, there were synths and jazzy syncopations and all kinds of interesting sounds throughout the album. I really thought Platt had found a sound he could stick with for a bit.

And now, Honeymind opens with this calm, smooth acoustic guitar. Twanging just a bit as it does. Platt has spoken of the album as a ‘homecoming’ of sorts — a return to organic foundations, musically. This seems relevant on two fronts:

1. The more immediately-obvious thing here is that his mother comes from Kansas; Platt does have roots in the breadbasket, despite that he, himself, is from California.

2. More importantly for Platt as a songwriter and musician, though, is that he has always had a fondness for Americana — particularly of the Simon & Garfunkel variety of folksy rock and pop. But that vein of music never had any icons who really connected with Platt’s emerging Queer identity.

So that’s the album he set out to make: Queer-friendly Americana. Honeymind still fits the trend of Pop musicians popping over to Country for…funsies? That bandwagon is still rolling (there’s at least one more coming at some point in the next few months…and (mild spoiler) it’s from an even more surprising artist than the gay Broadway star).

But!

This also isn’t really a *Country* album. Or even Pop Country. There are some elements which ring of country, such as the harmonica in “Land of the Terrified”; that song and “All American Queen” also utilize heavy satirical elements and flip several Country tropes on their heads. Musically, though, the stylings don’t fit into the cordoned-off section of Americana that we typically identify as “Country music”. Rather, it is better described as Pop Americana with Country elements. I’m still gonna tag this as Pop Country for simplicity’s sake, but it isn’t really Country.

Now that we have the genric definition down — is it worth your time?

If you’re a fan of Platt or Alt-Pop or “Country-But-Not-Modern-Country”, I’d say yes. Definitely. Platt’s tenor is as smooth and welcoming as ever, and there are at least a few instances of that gorgeous vibrato he has.

The songs are, largely, dedicated to the strong, loving relationship he has formed with Noah Galvin over the last few years. The definite exception to this is “Andrew”, which is dedicated to an unrequited love. There is no exception in the album’s theme and tone, though — Honeymind is named for “the ‘honey-like’ state of being in love”, and passion oozes out of every single track. This is a collection of earnest and sincere love songs, more than anything.

“All American Queen” does, admittedly, play more like an anthem, but there is this sense of adoration in speaking about the subject, who is an unnamed rural-born gay man. And really, the song just speaks directly to every man from that section of the community and tells them, flat-out, ‘you are loved’.

It’s really fucking wholesome.

Honeymind does not, musically, blow me away. Its strength is in the earnest delivery of its messages — love is all. Love triumphs. And the album released right in time for the start of Pride Month;² it’s really the perfect accompaniment for it. And while the songs are not cracking my top ten tracks for the year, they are still very good — don’t let my hedging scare you away. Honeymind is still miles ahead of Platt’s debut album.

Rating: Teal

1. Reverie rated a Blue and ranked 18th in 2021, beating out Dream Theater, Spiritbox, Swingrowers, and Diablo Swing Orchestra, among others.

2. This review, alas, did not.