Honne

Taking their moniker from the Japanese notion of "true feelings" and one's private inner world, the British duo HONNE fuse soul and synths to articulate their idea of musical closeness. Online attention led to broader notice via the 2014 release Warm on a Cold Night, which reached the U.K. Top 40. The pair kept refining their approach, enlisting Tom Misch and Nana Rogues for the 2018 album Love Me/Love Me Not. Additional partnerships appeared on their third full-length, 2021's Let's Just Say the World Ended a Week from Now, What Would You Do?, which included appearances by Pink Sweats, Khalid, and Sofía Valdés.

Producers James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck first connected at university and started working together just days into their studies. Drawing from Al Green and Bill Withers, the duo's warm electronic aesthetic carried echoes of Quincy Jones' early productions with Michael Jackson, laid across lush nighttime textures. Their opening EP, Warm on a Cold Night, surfaced in September 2014 and was followed later that year by All in the Value. After launching Tatemae Recordings in 2015, they issued the EPs Coastal Love and Over Lover. An online audience grew as they played sold-out European dates, including shows across the U.K. Gone Are the Days arrived in January 2016, spotlighting the track "No Place Like Home" with British soul singer JONES. Months afterward came the collaborative single "Someone That Loves You" with Izzy Bizu, issued while the pair readied a summer festival run and their first proper album, which reused the title Warm on a Cold Night. The 2017 single "Just Dance" preceded 2018's "I Got You," featuring Nana Rogues. Their second album, Love Me/Love Me Not, landed that summer, and the mixtape No Song Without You followed in July 2020. The 2021 album Let's Just Say the World Ended a Week from Now, What Would You Do? again showcased Philadelphia's Pink Sweats and Panama's Sofía Valdés. After leaving their previous label, the duo handled the independent release of their fifth album, 2024's Ouch.