Holy Other - Held (CD)

Holy Other return with their much-anticipated debut full length ‘Held’. After the uber-success of mini album ‘With U’ (a record tastefully described by ex-packer, serial artist offender and all round good dude Dave as ‘smooth sensual and romantic...a bit like a weekend with Chris De Burgh or Nigel Havers’) as well as the gentle rise to prominence of Tri Angle I’m sure there’s plenty of folks out there wondering, “Well, what’s next for Holy Other and the Tri Angle crew?” I can tell you...it’s celestial sound devotion mate.

‘Held’ is built on the same framework that made ‘With U’ such a forward thinking winner. That being skeletal UK garage beats, soothing r’n’b and the haunting yet gentle caress of house music’s library of soft synths. This time around though they are packing a newfound appreciation of the voice. The press release describes it best when they say that Holy Other “uses the voice in a way that sounds devotional and comforting in one instant, and unknowable and distant in another”. They’re certainly taking the use of vocal sampling to its logical extreme on ‘Held’ and it’s impressive how much distance they get out of it here. I mean you hear that echo drenched, stretched to shit vocal stuff on a lot of records nowadays but I’d say these kids (along with my boi Clams) have got a real hold on the style.