What Is War Honey's 'Even Sleep Is Exhausting' Really About?

Ever been so tired that even sleeping feels like work? Brooklyn band War Honey turned that feeling into a song, and it's racked up more than 68,000 Spotify plays. Here's what "Even Sleep Is Exhausting" is about and the story of the band behind it.

Who Are War Honey?

War Honey is an indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York. According to a 2022 review on Here Comes the Flood, the lineup is Gabrielle Dana on vocals and guitar, Ben Fitts on guitar, David Bloom on bass, and Ian Ackerman on drums.

Their sound is hard to pin down, in the best way. Here Comes the Flood described it as art pop with a touch of opera mixed with psychedelic rock. A Grrrl's Two Sound Cents called their debut EP "operatic polemics."

Bonus points for personality: the band's Spotify bio openly mocks the music industry habit of writing glowing third-person bios and passing them off as a stranger's opinion. Then it spirals into an absurd tale about a hat-ruled dimension. It's worth a read.

A Debut Made in Lockdown

War Honey's debut EP, Shard to Shatter, was recorded during the 2020 lockdown, according to A Grrrl's Two Sound Cents, which also reported that the band rented a place in rural Pennsylvania during the pandemic to work on new material. Handstand Records picked up the EP for distribution in 2021.

The pandemic also reshaped the band. Here Comes the Flood reported that their previous bassist and drummer left during that time, and Dana and Fitts rebuilt the group.

What Is "Even Sleep Is Exhausting" About?

"Even Sleep Is Exhausting" appears on Shard to Shatter, with a Spotify release date of December 1, 2020.

The lyrics paint a picture of being under siege. The narrator describes invaders raging around their fortress and breaking in to steal their focus, yet they insist they don't notice. Later, enemies wait on the brink of war, and the narrator repeats that they're unaware.

Read alongside the title, the song captures a very specific kind of exhaustion: being surrounded by stress and conflict while trying to block it out. Pretending not to notice takes energy, too, so even rest stops feeling restful. Released in December 2020, at the end of a stressful year, it's easy to see why the feeling connects.

What Came Next

War Honey followed up with a second EP, Last Woman Left at the Market, in May 2022, and the single "I Don't Blame the Rats" in 2023, according to The Bad Copy.

Where to Listen

Stream "Even Sleep Is Exhausting" on War Honey's Spotify page.

Sources

Here Comes the Flood — "War Honey: Last Woman Left at Market"
A Grrrl's Two Sound Cents — "War Honey Steps Outside with 'Last Woman Left at the Market'"
The Bad Copy — "War Honey Releases New Single I Don't Blame the Rats"
Spotify — "War Honey" artist profile