Greenness Chase the Thrill of Endless Beginnings on “Honeymoons,” a Lush Art Rock Epic About Love, Fear and Creative Rebirth

Greenness returns with Honeymoons, their boldest and most extravagant chapter yet. Three years in the making, the album feels like a full bloom moment where every influence they have ever loved crashes together in vivid color. The duo stretches far beyond the quiet introspection of Sunrooms, trading minimalism for a rich palette of art rock, orchestral flourishes, folk tones, jazz twists, retro pop sparkle, and electronic ambience. It is immersive, dramatic, and intentionally overflowing.

For the first time, Greenness opens the door to a whole cast of collaborators. Harp, clarinet, double bass, cello, layered guitars, and heavy percussion build a world that feels handcrafted and cinematic at the same time. Cess Greenness commands the center with vocals that move from tender to theatrical, while Graham constructs an entire universe from their home studio with astonishing detail.

Honeymoons is not about one perfect phase. It is about the many moments where love, art, and life suddenly feel new again. It captures that dizzying rush of holding something beautiful and fearing its loss in the very same breath.

What shift in your lives or artistry sparked the creation of Honeymoons?

We started working on Honeymoons about 3 years ago, shortly after the release of our debut album Sunrooms. At the time, we were emerging from the lockdown era and experiencing a more vibrant social environment again, which inspired the creation of a new album that involved collaboration, as opposed to Sunrooms (recorded between 2019 and 2022), which was more of a "hermit-style" project.

How did bringing in new collaborators reshape the emotional tone of the record?

It allowed us to explore new sounds and textures; for instance, the clarinet on 'Play On' adds playfulness, and there's something bittersweet about it, which fits the song perfectly. The strings on Swells bring so much emotional intensity, and the cello and bass clarinet on Psychopomps add darkness and drama.

I also absolutely love the Tarantino-style saxophone part on Sweetness, and the subtle harp textures here and there (for instance, there's a recording of the wind blowing through a Celtic harp at the end of track 6, which marks the halfway point of the album). We are fortunate to know many talented musicians who have been kind enough to share their gifts with our humble home studio.

The album explores themes of abundance, temptation, and fear. Which theme challenged you the most while writing?

Fear, and more specifically, the fear of losing your loved ones. My dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer one year ago, and this was very much on my mind when working on Psychopomps ("I'm not ready to meet my death.")

I think with this album, in the lyrics, I was trying to articulate the absolute weirdness of being human. We have to deal with so many contradictory feelings all at once, all the time: love, death, envy, empathy, despair, joy, regret, longing, desire, fear, gratitude, and anger. It's a total roller coaster. Writing songs and making art in general is our way of expressing it and trying to make sense of it.

How did the home studio environment shape the sound of this album?

We've recorded all our previous albums in the same home studio, so it's a very familiar place - it's literally just a corner of our living room: simple and cosy! The best thing about it is that we have total freedom; we can work on music whenever we feel like it, without having to book somewhere for a limited time. This means that more creative experimentation can occur, allowing us to take our time and try things out, which encourages us to come up with more unusual ideas.

When was the most recent moment you felt an actual "honeymoon phase" in your creative journey?

Very recently, actually, through the acquisition of a stage piano! Whenever we get a new instrument, there's always a total honeymoon phase happening, where one or both of us just play it obsessively and then lots of new songs happen, just like that. So I reckon the next Greenness era will be less guitar-based and full of ivories instead...