The Holy Rollercoasters are forging their own unique and dynamic path in the Brisbane music scene and we are very proud to premiere their EP Odyssey I, part of a trilogy that ultimately forms an album due out next year. ‘Odyssey’ is a concept album based on The Odyssey but set in a futuristic post-civil war Australia. Being released in three parts, this first part focuses on the separation of Odysseus from his wife Penelope and their son Telemachus, with each of the three tracks told from each of the three characters’ perspectives.
Odyssey I is a fascinating amalgam of bluesy soul and swampy blues all with a liberal dash of theatricality: a soul opera that is imbued with an expressive delivery replete with a horn section that simply breathes late night excesses and an arch style. Co-songwriter and producer Andrew Garton says of the process for the album:
Our recorded work with The Holy Rollercoasters has always been strongly thematically unified. But for our first full length release we wanted to really focus on creating an album with a satisfying narrative arc. To make an album that compels the listener to ingest it from the very beginning to the end. In 2016, around the time that the idea of this band was just starting to germinate in our heads, I was also getting deeply into Homer’s Odyssey, and I found myself particularly interested in it’s narrative structure that goes back in time and wraps around on itself. And now five years later that has manifested in this extended “soul odyssey” for The Holy Rollercoasters.
Opening track ‘When You Coming Home’ is a fey and studied entrance with a Brechtian style that seeps out from a reflective quiet shimmering guitar opening and a rolling circular base. The wailing trumpet is haunting and sensuous – the vocals urgent stylistic and to the fore as the horn section swaggers in. Like the journey it recounts and the sense of loss felt by Penelope left at home waiting for her lover’s return, the track ebbs backwards and forwards with a studied pose.
‘Not Another Word From You’, now shifting focus to Telemachus demanding his father’s return, is a slamming funky soul blast with the insistent pounding of a tropical thunderstorm, reflecting resentment and frustration. The soul stabs and plonking guitars creates an energising buzz. This is rampant effervescent stuff with the influence of Otis Redding acknowledged by the band clearly present. The band perfectly captures a sense of adolescent frustration.
Final track ‘Tears, Heartaches and Sighs’ is a monumental cinematic blast: bold, expressive and theatrical. Creating a character named Otis possible accompanying the lost traveller Odysseus (or the character at the centre of the tale), it is a tale of heartbreak and isolation: capturing yearning and grief as he longs for home. Emotional excess is always the very heart of soul, and with The Holy Rollercoasters’ dynamism and expression, it is delivered with stately aplomb.
‘Odyssey I’ has at its heart an utterly satisfying bombast and pose: the smell of greasepaint and the bright, blinding shine of floodlights infuse every note, every stab of the horns and every lyrical expression. It is a fresh and bold approach and the start of a very exciting journey as we await parts II and III.
The EP is available here from 16 November 2021 here through the bold and eclectic 4000 Records whose continued support of South Queensland creatives is nothing short of amazing. You can have an exclusive sneak listen through the link below:
The Holy Rollercoasters will be launching the EP at brand new venue It’s Still A Secret on November 28th with the splendid The Double Happiness – details and event information here.
Feature Photograph: Maia Efstathis
