Once upon a pandemic, two special songwriters flexed their tentacles across Bass Strait and beyond to gently hand us a new album with a stack of collabs and a good old, real life, decent-sized tour.
Holy Holy dropped their fourth album, 'Hello My Beautiful World', in August. "It was an exciting process in pretty strange circumstances," Tim Carroll explains, who is one half of Holy Holy.Holy Tim describes songwriting as a curious thing he is still kind of surprised by when it unfolds successfully. When teaming up with Oscar Dawson (the other Holy) though, it seems a little more comforting a quandary.
"I've got a bit more trust now that when Oscar and I get together and set time apart to write songs, I know us well enough to know that when we're together good things happen and we stumble upon cool ideas."
Although isolated, they didn't do this album alone inviting Kim Moyes from The Presets, CLEWS, Japanese Wallpaper, Queen P and Brisbane-based composer Toby Alexander to add their own flavours.
Arguably, the duo have been making 'iso records' for years, since they have usually lived in different states. Tim's been graciously making the most of the pandemic, enjoying the break from business like so many of his colleagues – at least initially.
"I was always just trying to chew what I had bitten off," between touring, writing, recording, his other work on festivals and events, and having a life.
"It was pretty hectic. There is this sense of being in one place for a long time [that] I've never experienced, really, in my adult life. I've been trying to remember to enjoy it, cos I guess it'll only be around for a fleeting moment – a fleeting two and a half years."
Holy Holy are due to headline Offbeat Music Festival (late November) in Eumundi (Sunshine Coast), which has now been expanded beyond the frame of the Imperial Hotel that held the inaugural event in 2019. It'll be the band's first show in the bohemian arts-hub village and they're looking forward to being back in Queensland.
"It's always amazing to come to a city, the first time, and hear people singing along to the songs and happy that a band has made the effort to come." Also appearing at Offbeat Music Festival are the likes of Angie McMahon, Tia Gostelow, Hayley Mary, and the vibrantly smooth Brisbane lads Kurilpa Reach.
There simply isn't enough spoken word over music (here's looking at you, William Shatner). The title track of Holy Holy's new album is a kind of meditation of place and placement – an invitation to centre yourself in your own sliver of a heaving Australian landscape: "Breathe until your dying breath."
Speaking of savoured moments during the making of the album, Tim recalls the final piece they made. "Some of the songs on the new album have codas [a musical term: the concluding piece of a composition, typically adding a new bit that is extra to the structure], and the coda for 'So Tired' was this musical moment that happened right at the end of making the record.
"We were just adding some final touches to it and we stumbled across this other musical idea and decided to punch it out that afternoon. I have really fond memories of making and recording that."
That coda sure is a nourishing snippet – a study in the wanderings between ambient and excitement, as this album does heartily.
Speaking of nourishment, if Holy Holy were a breakfast cereal what would it be? Tim says it has to be something with two standalone parts that interact. "Some of the strength of Holy Holy is these two different approaches to music – so maybe Sultana Bran. And I'm the bran and he's the sultanas."
Humbly, humbly, the Holy Holy lads will bring 'Hello My Beautiful World' to every state and one territory later this year, if the powers that be allow.
Holy Holy headline Offbeat Music Festival at The Imperial Hotel (Sunshine Coast) 27 November. 'Hello My Beautiful World' is available now.
Holy Holy 2021 Tour Dates
Fri 5 Nov - Astor Theatre (Perth)Sat 6 Nov - The River (Margaret River)
Sun 7 Nov - Prince Of Wales (Bunbury)
Thu 11 Nov - Torquay Hotel (Torquay)
Fri 12 Nov - Pier Hotel (Frankston)
Sat 13 Nov - Forum Melbourne* early show
Sat 13 Nov - Forum Melbourne* late show
Wed 17 Nov - UC Refectory (Canberra)
Thu 18 Nov - Waves (Wollongong)
Fri 19 Nov - Civic Theatre (Newcastle)
Sat 20 Nov - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Thu 25 Nov - Miami Marketta (Gold Coast)
Fri 26 Nov - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)
Wed 1 Dec - Leichardt Hotel (Rockhampton)
Thu 2 Dec - Seabreeze Hotel (Mackay)
Fri 3 Dec - JCU Uni Bar (Townsville)
Sat 4 Dec - Gilligan's (Cairns)
Fri 10 Dec - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)
Sat 11 Dec - Odeon Theatre (Hobart)
Sun 12 Dec - Albert Hall (Launceston)
