Review

It’s taken eight years, but David Holmes is back with a bona fide solo album of his own. During that time, of course, he has been as busy as ever, cementing his position as one of Hollywood’s go-to soundtrack guys as well as DJing and working with his Free Association project. But while there are threads of commonality between all those projects – mainly his love for obscure soul and funk – The Holy Pictures is a different beast altogether.

Holmes has spoken of exercising his love for Krautrock, minimalist composers and the Jesus & Mary Chain, and it all coalesces into a satisfying whole; a journey through David Holmes’s headspace in 2008. There’s also a genuinely personal emotional resonance that you don’t often associate with this cardinal of cool. A compulsion to produce work of depth has resulted in an album that addresses Holmes’s relationship with his late parents, as well as his upbringing in Belfast.

Opening with the stunning – and addictive – single ‘I Heard Wonders’, the title track is a similarly propulsive effort, also appearing to be addressed to Holmes’s mother. “You’re the one that I’m with now, when I’m all alone,” he sings, but it comes across more joyous than maudlin. ‘Theme/I.M.C.’ (previously released on the Oh Yeah Sessions ’08 album as ‘McCready Rides Again’) is another highlight, a stately synth workout that explodes after two minutes in a frenzy of hip-hop drumming and garbled voices. ‘Melanie’, meanwhile, comes on like Holy Fuck gone pastoral, riding along on wordless vocals, that relentless motorik beat and those ever-present synths.

As the album winds down, the gorgeous ‘Hey Maggie’ (featuring Foy Vance on backing vocals) and ‘Birth’ lead into the closer, the quite beautiful ‘The Ballad of Sarah and Jack’ – an obvious tribute to his mum and dad. In its echo-laden piano melody, it manages to evoke an Irish childhood in a way that is almost unbearably affecting. A triumph, from start to finish. Chris Jones

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DOWNLOAD: ‘I HEARD WONDERS’, ‘THEME/I.M.C.’, ‘MELANIE’.
FOR FANS OF: BRIAN ENO, THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN, NEU!.

Posted on: September 5, 2008