Pop/Rock - There's an appealingly sly, loose and slightly rambunctious feel to this accomplished full-length debut from L.A. duo Suzanne Santo and Ben Jeffe, AKA Honey Honey. With hefty amounts of country twang, bluesy soul vocals, folksy charm and retro pop flourishes sprinkled atop superbly crafted adult pop melodies, "First Rodeo" exudes both knowing wit and substantial musical chops. It may be a bright, fun romp that never takes itself too seriously, but it's also a seriously good album.

"It's been a while since this town turned out a fresh folk outfit," says the LA Times. "Enter Honey Honey, a duo from Venice that infuses indie rock, country, jazz and the blues into it's folk bedrock. The unconventional mash up works beautifully."

Despite "First Rodeo"'s burnished production sheen, there's also a pronounced "down home" quality to the diverse track list, in part thanks to Santo's rich, casually soulful vocals and occasional violin sweetener. As on the gorgeous "Bouncing Ball", genres collide at will: acoustic folk ballad meets jazzy standard meets country hoe-down meets lush pop orchestration for a tender neo-classic. And it all works.

There's the country/rock rave-up ("Give Yourself To Me"), sensuous 60's-tinged waltz ("Willow Tree") pulsing piano modern torch ("Oh Mama") even a high-octane, slide guitar blues kicker ("Come On Home"). In lesser hands, this self-described "weird amalgamation of genres" could come off as preening overreaching. But for Honey Honey, the varied and adventurous mix simply raises the bar and adds to the fun.

Released by Ironworks, a label founded by actor Kiefer Sutherland and singer/songwriter Jude Cole (who produced "Rodeo") and distributed by Universal Republic, "First Rodeo" is led with first single "Little Toy Gun." "It's a song you don't want to tip your hat to it as much as you want to get down with yourself," says Santos, tongue firmly in cheek. Sutherland directed (and appears in) the video.

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