Held

Nothing groundbreaking but I've been getting more into electronic music these days and this is a solid release I often play in the background while I'm cooking or cleaning.

After the astonishing WITH U EP, Holy Ghost release their debut full-length, HELD, which from the first track, "(W)here," continues to delve into emotive electronics. The slightly off-beat blippings keep the listener off-balance, even as the tempo of the track itself shifts halfway through. "Tense Past" evokes the feeling of falling with its carefully altered vocal samples, while "Inpouring" returns to a restless hip-hop inspired rhythm. The deeper bass eddies of "Love Some1" carry the looped vocals and string pulls into a vortex, whereas "U Now" puts the vocals at the center around which the other elements build. The jittery "In Difference" hides a pained romance at its core, but the romance comes to the fore with "Past Tension" and is carried by into the title track by slow house beats and their subsequent shift into spacious breaks and piano chords. The bass woodwinds that start "Nothing Here" hints at an emptiness that's soon filled by the reconstituted vocals. A real triumph of an album.

This is the good stuff. It's been a long time since I've heard music this good, and there have been several musicians my friends have been recommending to me that I don't seem to find as good as they do. I was really starting to wonder whether I had completely lost interest in music (I like lots of genres but I'm always looking for something new). Well, 'Held' definitely disproved that theory.I think I've heard my fair share of similar-sounding music to this, and among them, this by far takes the cake. Like a reviewer said of his last EP (which, by the way, I enjoyed, but not nearly as much as 'Held'), this definitely isn't traditional music, and few others have created music this pure. There's a certain feeling you get when you don't want a song to end, and I can say I feel it at the end of every track. While they're all a little similar, each creates its own little atmosphere that is thoroughly enjoyable to spend time in, and when it's about to end, you just want to grab that feeling and hold onto it forever.. until the next song comes on and pulls you right into the next world. I felt this especially with the tracks "Inpouring" and "Held" - nothing like it.I'm not gonna say much else, but you really, really, really gotta buy this. Holy Other has created beauty here like nothing I've ever heard or seen before.

A true pleasure to listen. Exciting in its difference from others attempting the same thing. Similar to Nicolas Jaar's Space is only Noise which is also a must own for this hazy Greman underwater dreamscape genre.