Hollan Holmes' SACRED PLACES: an Electronic Revelation in Sound, Out Now on Spotted Peccary Music
With Sacred Places Hollan Holmes once again demonstrates a mastery of electronic ambient worldbuilding few can match.
Spotted Peccary Music releases SACRED PLACES by Multimedia Artist Hollan Holmes, an intimate sequencer-driven album with infusions of Tribal & Ambient passages.
PORTLAND, OREGON, USA, January 11, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- "To me, this is how electronic music should sound," writes Paul Rijkens of renowned Dutch progressive rock magazine iO Pages, "I find Hollan Holmes' music brilliant. It is neither ambient nor pure Berlin School sequencing but he manages to make what both worlds are an extremely engaging and intriguing whole."
The new album Rijkens refers to is Sacred Places, the third release by Hollan Holmes on Spotted Peccary Music (Portland, OR), which is comprised of eleven geographic vignettes, each composition inspired from Holmes’s travels to different locales of deep personal significance. On each piece, Holmes invites the listener into his inner world, reconstructing these sacred places with meticulous sound design and powerful thematic sensitivities. Here, Holmes blends ornate sequencer passages with tribal ambient flourishes that are intricate yet intimate, all to transcribe amazing landscapes in the listener’s mind.
Holmes crafted this latest work from a variety of hardware and software instruments, including the Oberheim OB-6 and Moog Prodigy hardware synthesizers as well as Propellerhead Reason and Spectrasonics Omnisphere software synthesizers. On “Temples of Stone,” a majestic melody ascends over staccato bass before erupting into a percussion-less trance. Shimmering sequencer passages cascade over an immutable bassline, all the grandeur befitting an ancient temple untouched by time. Bill Porter adds a swaggering electric guitar riff to the Berlin-school warble of “An Elevated Life,” confident and cosmic. Contrarily, “Bristlecone,” swirls like windblown pine needles through a forest clearing, meditative and yearning yet no less propulsive. “The Divine Connection” juxtaposes low end rumbles with bright arpeggiators, soaring to a scintillating crescendo.
"Music has always been for me an endeavor to convey my emotions. It doesn’t have to connect with others the same way that it connects with me, but if the listener feels their own connection or is emotionally moved in any way, then I’ve achieved an incredibly elusive goal," reflects Holmes. “My goal was to capture sonically the spiritual and emotional energy of these places.” There is a plentitude of subtle details in much of this music that may not be observed on the first listen, but can be discerned through repeated and careful listens.
With Sacred Places Hollan Holmes once again demonstrates a mastery of electronic ambient worldbuilding few can match, presenting a staggeringly cinematic vision that defies simple definitions of analog or digital instrumentation. Rather, he inspires us to experience these remote special environments in such a personal manner as to truly evoke the magic of these very sacred places.
In another early review, Bert Strolenberg of Sonic immersion said of Sacred Places “Overall it's an exciting and spatial sonic realm of ornate sequencer passages dressed delicately with tribal ambient flourishes that are intricate yet intimate, together stretching out wondrous, illusive landscapes in the listener's mind.”
Sacred Places is Holmes' third release on Spotted Peccary Music; his previous releases are Emerald Waters (SPM-4402), and Milestones (SPM-4401). Mastered by Howard Givens at Spotted Peccary PNW Studios, Sacred Places is available as a CD, as well as for streaming and downloading, including high resolution studio master formats. The project's images and layout were designed by Daniel Pipitone, Spotted Peccary Studios NE.
Spotted Peccary will host Hollan Holmes in a live Bandcamp Listening Party on release day, January 12, 2024 at 5 pm PST / 8 pm EST for music journalists and fans on the platform. RSVP at: https://hollan-holmes.bandcamp.com/merch/hollan-holmes-sacred-places-listening-party
Fans can also explore Sacred Places on their music platform of choice: https://orcd.co/sacred-places or buy it at https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/sacred-places/ Spotted Peccary Music will live stream Sacred Places throughout the day today on its 24/7/365 streaming channel SPMLive. Echoes Radio debuted the album on January 11, 2024, noting "The Texas based electronic artist is a disciple of Steve Roach and you can hear it on his new album, Sacred Places."
For artist interviews, review copies, or promotional requests, please contact Beth Ann Hilton via beth@spottedpeccary.com
Tracklist:
1 Order Out Of Chaos 6:06
2 Temples Of Stone 7:20
3 Bristlecone 5:19
4 Drawn To An Intangible Energy 6:37
5 An Elevated Life 5:53
6 Hallowed Ground 5:02
7 Walking Among Kings 7:11
8 The Divine Connection 6:39
9 Primal Instinct 7:56
10 A Light Unto The World 7:10
11 Sacred Places 6:06
Links:
Smartlink: https://orcd.co/sacred-places
Spotted Peccary Album Page: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/sacred-places/
Bandcamp: https://hollanholmes.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spottedpeccary/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spottedpeccary
About Hollan Holmes:
Hollan Holmes was born into a family of music lovers. Holmes’ father, mother and sister each had their own musical interests, thus Holmes was listening to a wide variety of music from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Perhaps more significantly, he grew up in a house with a piano, which served to feed a thirst for the creative process of making and playing music. The formation of his first band took place during his high school senior year, an interest which was further fueled by his discovery of synthesizers and the purchase of a Moog Prodigy, courtesy of a loan from his grandmother. Holmes still owns and uses (and must regularly calibrate) that old analog classic. In the early ‘80s, he discovered Jean Michel Jarre and later, Tangerine Dream, both of which would forever alter his musical direction. https://hollanholmes.bandcamp.com/
About Spotted Peccary Music:
Portland-based Spotted Peccary Music is North America’s finest independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and introspective soundscapes. For over three decades, the artists of Spotted Peccary have been on a mission to develop, produce, publish and release ultra-high-quality, deep-listening experiences that engage the listener and exceed expectations. Every release is carefully prepared in a variety of high-quality formats from MP3 to high-res studio masters. In 2023, they were named Best Independent Record Label by the HIMAwards. Explore more than 200 titles and 50 artists released over 38 years of excellence at SpottedPeccary.com and AmbientElectronic.com.
Beth Hilton
Spotted Peccary Music
310-560-8390
beth@spottedpeccary.com
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