On their debut album
When the Storms Would Come, Australia's
Holy Holy have created a work that more veteran acts might spend years trying to achieve. Their expansive soundscapes and guitar-based bliss immediately bring to mind
Mark Knopfler or
CSNY (especially on "Pretty Strays for Hopeless Lovers"), but it's just as reference; their vision is entirely their own, the past soaring into the future. Album opener "Sentimental and Monday" is the sound of daylight breaking, a shimmery and comforting warmth that casts itself over the rest of the LP. There is a strong sense of freedom -- especially on the poetic "Outside of the Heart of It" and the galloping "If I Were You" -- that might be an appropriate soundtrack to a plaintive journey through the vast American West (or the lonely Outback). As the music twists and turns throughout the wide sonic landscape -- veering over deserts and catapulting over mountains -- Timothy Carroll's dusty voice soars, Oscar Dawson's guitar drives, and Graham Ritchie and Ryan Strathie buoy it all along on a tight rhythm section that sometimes threatens to bounce the listener clear into the sky. This physical reaction is most potent on the single "You Cannot Call for Love Like a Dog," an epic trek that plays like
the War on Drugs with a lot more muscle and urgency. Ending on a guitar solo may be considered indulgent, but it is so good that this song could carry the entire record. Fortunately, the other nine tracks are just as quality, like the patient sprawl of "History" or the undulating "Holy Gin." The journey ends in twilight with the dreamy "The Crowd" awash in cymbals, piano, and languid guitar. Listeners will want to immediately take the trip again. In short, the album is a gem, quite a feat for such a young band. ~ Neil Z. Yeung