David Holmes - The Holy Pictures (Commerical Marketing)
4/5
By: Dickon Stone
The fourth solo album from Holmes begins with what will be the first single to be released from this record; 'I Heart Wonders'. It's a fitting choice, as the song (and indeed, The Holy Pictures as a whole) is bursting at the seams with fond memories and a melancholic nostalgia. Vocals are shrouded amongst distorted guitars and echoing wet synths in the tasteful way that The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine have championed, but there's also something of the Jarvis Cockers to Holmes' voice, the first time he's provided his own vocals on a record.
There's furthermore an edge of The Stone Roses to a fair proportion of the material on The Holy Pictures. There's a meditative bliss to it, much in the way that an Ulrich Schnauss' record moves from start to finish with such grace and beauty, as if it were a single track; David Holmes has created a theme here that you will be able to sit back and relish no matter your mood, no matter whether its glowing sunshine or pouring rain. And it's always pouring rain at the minute.
'Love Reign Over Me' is reminiscent of young pretenders like Maps, with twinkles and breathy vocals teamed with steady, heavier bass lines and funky drum combinations. The Holy Pictures definitely resonates with a sense of Shoegaze. 'Theme' particularly emphasises this; with a title like that, it's surely not long before it finds its way on to a film soundtrack.
'Kill Her With Kindness' warbles gently past like a soft breeze... combining an artful depth of instrumentals and echoing vox; fading in from behind clicks and beats shrouded in reverb. Elsewhere, 'Melanie' is a little poppy number, whilst 'Hey Maggy' utilises organ-esque drones in touching mourning; Blade Runner's Vangelis soundtrack springs to mind as a comparison...
Holmes proves himself to be a master on 'Birth'; if he'd included a few heartbeats I could have lounged inside the synthetic choral-esque warmth of the womb he created and truly believe I was back in utero. However we are sensibly only given just over a minute of that calm, before we are born back to reality - 'The Ballad Of Sarah And Jack' ends The Holy Pictures with an Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind type of victory in solitude but full of hope kinda bow at the end of the show way.
The Holy Pictures feels like David Holmes' heart on a slab for all to see - relentlessly therapeutic, desperately beautiful.
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