A CLICKY, metronomic bass is pillowed by distant sound wash and drone, tick-tocking with cinematic suspense; and a guitar twangs a mournful riff with grandeur. Chill synths add to the palette, as winds of sound holler and skitter past your hearing. Imagine Labradford at very blustery altitude, the parched placidity replaced by a need to cling on in the face of the elemental.
It’s the sound of the new single from the Zürich post-rock trio Holm, “Our Days And Years”, full of expectancy and portent, and a perfect curtain-raiser in which to survey the scene as the band begin to wend their way towards what will be their first album in three years, In Gardens, next January, the processing toward which will be marked by eight singles as wayside stations of the cross.
The three-piece, comprised of drummer Alessandro Giannelli, guitarist Dimitri Käch and bassist James Varghese subvert the beetling cityscape in sound, writing and recording in a former bomb shelter in the middle of the city; dreaming of determined escape from it.
Like the other seven tracks laid down for In Gardens, “Our Days And Years” was borne entirely of improvisational sessions recorded live. From now until the new year, through summer, autumn and winter, Holm will drip-feed one track every month.
The band’s shelter-cum-creative base sits subterranean to the conspicuous wealth of Zürich’s Paradeplatz base, one of mainland Europe’s most expensive postcodes, and thus perhaps the ideal place to explore the majesty and darkness of post-rock; right in the belly of the beast.
The band’s name, Holm, the old Norse word for an islet, describes part of the band’s small-p political and musical purpose in one syllable; a remove, surrounded on all sides; a retreat, small, secluded.
The band formed in 2018 and has no predetermined goals, except to share a musical and emotional journey. They say HOLM is a place to catch a fleeting glimpse of another truth, a location from which perspectives may change.
HOLM’s “Our Days And Years” is out on digital streaming platforms today via Quiet Love Records.
Connect with HOLM at their official website, at Bandcamp, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
