Bon Voyage
Aliso Viejo, California10 reviews across 4 releases
Bon Voyage is a pop duo from Aliso Viejo, California, formed in the mid-1990s around Starflyer 59's guitar-centered songwriting and a high, sweet female vocal. Its first release, Issue 1, placed distorted guitar beside bright melody, while the 1998 Bon Voyage expanded that formula into surf- and wave-tinged pop with keyboards and short melodic songs. The sound could be sugary and intimate, but it also carried a darker haze, with mournful keyboards beneath thick guitar and songs about romantic attachment. The female voice was the band's clearest distinction, shifting from coy to melancholy over music rooted in Jason Martin's familiar structures. By The Right Amount, the emphasis had moved toward softer dream pop and concise hooks, with less lyrical provocation and a more seamless, subdued mood.
In 1998, the duo moved from Velvet Blue Music to BEC Recordings for its self-titled album, with Julie Martin singing and Jason Martin writing and playing most of the music. Gene Eugene produced the record and added keyboards, while the album's treatment of marital desire led some Christian retailers to remove it. Four years later, The Right Amount appeared on Tooth & Nail Records, retaining Julie's light vocal style while reducing Jason's presence as a singer and softening the lyrics. The delay between the two albums became part of the band's small but distinct history. Bon Voyage later released Lies through Tooth & Nail in 2008, continuing the project under the Martins' names.
4 releases reviewed
Issue 1
Issue II
The Right Amount