Holy Other – Held

After the astonishing WITH U EP, Holy Other 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.

http://www.seeksicksound.com/holy-other-held/