Honey Harper - Starmaker (LP) - Clear Vinyl

Cosmic country is a slippery phrase, but Honey Harper makes it feel obvious the second his debut LP blooms to life. Starmaker arrived in March 2020 on ATO Records, the first full-length from Atlanta-born songwriter William Fussell, who records as Honey Harper with his partner and co-writer Alana Pagnutti. It is country music softened by starlight, pedal steel threaded through synth mist, a hushed voice guiding you through a midnight drive where the town line gives way to deep space. If you like your twang glazed in atmosphere and romance, this record is a quiet revelation.

The roots here run clear. You can hear an affection for Gram Parsons and Glen Campbell in the way these melodies tilt upward, looking for something pure. But the record also drifts toward ambient pop, the kind that floats more than it stomps. Harper and Pagnutti write with a tenderness that suits that balance. Their songs linger on love and myth, how devotion turns into a kind of stargazing, how fame or the idea of it can shape a life. He chased this sound on the Universal Country EP back in 2017, and Starmaker delivers the fully realized version, confident and unhurried.

“In Light of Us” sets the tone, all soft glow and pedal steel curlicues that feel like they were played from the edge of a dream. Harper sings with a near-whisper, the sort of vocal that rewards close listening, and the arrangement leaves air around every phrase. “Something Relative” tightens the focus with a gentle sway and a melody that sticks, the steel answering the vocal like an old friend. “Suzuki Dreams” slips in as a drifting interlude, a little postcard from the album’s more ambient side. Taken together, those pieces explain the trick of Starmaker. It is country enough to satisfy the faithful, yet wide open to the cosmos.

The sound design does a lot of heavy lifting. Instead of crowding the mix, the band lets details flicker in the periphery. A single guitar harmonic, a synth pad that rises and falls, a brushed snare that nudges the pulse along. You can tell there is intention in the negative space, and that choice makes the choruses feel weightless when they arrive. It helps that Harper’s voice never strains. He leans into clarity and tone, which lets the lyrics carry their own quiet gravity. Pagnutti’s presence is felt in the writing too, and the record reads like a shared vision rather than a lone-wolf project.

Starmaker earned kind words from critics who usually sit on opposite sides of the country aisle. The Guardian praised its luminous glide, and Pitchfork highlighted the album’s dreamy cohesion and Harper’s commitment to this widescreen take on twang. Fans picked favorites fast. “In Light of Us” became the track you put on late at night, then replayed as the sun crept up. The deeper cuts reward time as well. Even the brief instrumentals deepen the mood, like small constellations you only notice after your eyes adjust.

If you are crate digging, Starmaker vinyl is the way to fall for this record. The low end has room to breathe, the steel blooms with a natural sheen, and the hush of Harper’s voice lands right between the speakers. Honey Harper vinyl tends to slip through a shop fast, so if your Melbourne record store is out, you can always buy Honey Harper records online through the usual suspects. For collectors building a shelf of cosmic country essentials, Honey Harper albums on vinyl sit comfortably beside Emmylou classics and modern outliers who like their boots dusty and their heads in the clouds. Even if you are browsing vinyl records Australia wide, this one is worth the hunt.

What keeps me coming back is how unfussy it feels. There is no gimmick. No wink. Just a songwriter and his circle chasing a tone that makes sense to them, then polishing it until it gleams. Starmaker gives you quiet songs that feel vast, faithful to the spirit of country while reaching for something celestial. Put it on after dark, let that first track find its glow, and see if you don’t feel the room tilt toward the stars.