Tag: Holy Now

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Gothenburg’s Holy Now Shares Hazy Visual for Achingly Earnest “Hold Me/Know Me”

With the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s I Think I Need The Light and its follow-up EP, It Will All End In Tears, Gothenburg-based indie outfit Holy Now, led by Julia Oleander, quickly amassed international acclaim from the likes of Gold Flake Paint, Gorilla Vs. Bear and The Line of Best Fit among a lengthy list of others.

The rising Gothenburg-based outfit’s sophomore album Dream of Me is slated for release this fall through Lazy Octopus. The album reportedly sees the band cementing the sound that has won them international attention — crisp, reverb-drenched guitars, dreamy choruses paired with a decidedly analog feel.

“The album has been in the works for two long years. It was made in stages and recorded in different places around Gothenburg. The pandemic made us change, we did not rehearse as usual but met and rehearsed intensively and then went straight to the studio,” the members of Holy Now say of the album’s creative process.

Dream of Me‘s first single “Hold Me/Know Me” sees the rising Swedish outfit continuing upon the familiar elements of their sound — the aforementioned reverb-drenched and shimmering guitars, Oleander’s achingly plaintive vocals, dreamy choruses and old-school, analog feel — but within an atmospheric arrangement, that places a focus on the song’s earnest, lived in lyrics describing a familiar feeling to all of us:

“‘Hold Me/Know Me’ is a song about a new love,” the band explains. “The feeling of not knowing someone but being absolutely sure that you just want to be around that person, and the fear that also comes with that, when things suddenly become important. It’s a bit more stripped back than other Holy Now songs, both in feeling and lyrics.”

The accompanying video by Oscar Andersson follows the band’s Oleander basking and daydreaming on a glorious, sun-dappled day in a cute apartment. The video is a very much a hazy dream of swooning, first pangs of like/love.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of their first two EP’s 2016’s Sorry I Messed Up and Please Call Me Back, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based indie rock quartet Holy Now, comprised of Julia Olander, Ylva Holmdahl, Samuel von Bahr Jemth and Hampus Eiderström Swahn quickly developed a reputation as one of their homeland’s up-and-coming indie rock/guitar pop acts — and with tours across Sweden and in London, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based quartet received praise from the likes of DIY, The 405, Festivalrykten and Nöjesguiden, and others.

Building upon their growing national and international profile, “Feel It All,” will further cement Holy Now’s reputation for crafting jangling guitar pop with soaring hooks paired with plaintive and tender vocals and while clearly drawing from 80s and 90s guitar pop, like The Sundays and others, the Swedish quartet puts a subtly modern spin on it, along the lines of the likes of La Sera and others — complete with a deep yearning to feel and know everything.