Guitarists Lee Lavender & Neil Halstead join acclaimed HOO to create a synth and guitar heavy masterpiece with guests Jackie Oates & Farmer Dave Scher.
Producer-songwriter and organic gardener with a penchant for wah-wah, Nick Holton brings you the wide-screen, heartbreaking glory of HOO’s gothy toned second album WE SHALL NEVER SPEAK. A more song filled leap forward from debut CENTIPEDE WISDOM’s post-rock electro adventures.
Holton is a master builder of woozy dynamics, his songs unfurl with a mysterious, hooky logic all their own - this is cinematic and deeply emotive machine music. A glorious hybrid of electro, shoegaze, dubby ‘niceness’ and floating dream pop. The spooked, narcotic throb of opener GHOST IN YOU. The pounding, chewy Kraut/Space rock of CRANIUM. THE MIGHTY’s exquisite slow build towards Can-like lift-off. Snarly hypnotic throb of first single ‘Still Dream’ pounds along like a wide-screen Spaceman 3. Its subject paints a picture of youthful arrogance veiled in a foil of anger & cowardliness, a loved one lost to an ocean of dark cold space. Moog battles with groovy bass while guitars try to take your head off. A brief flirt with musique concrète on the metronomic NO ONE CAN SEE THIS. The Halstead co-penned shoegazy, echoey swagger of WE SHALL NEVER SPEAK. The album’s poisoned chalice & peak song moment, POWDER MOON. The synthpop of YOU CHANGED THE WAY YOU SMILE. Closer SEA OF GLASS sounds like Leonard Cohen visiting Kraftwerk’s Klingklang studio. Let that sink in - the idea is perhaps the heart of this venture.
The detail and texture is extraordinary. A glorious hybrid of an album that over eight songs builds into something unique. Epic and homegrown. Upbeat and melancholic. Questing and questioning. Haunted by loss but future-facing. It’s a genuine marvel.
credits
released November 19, 2021
PRODUCER - HOO
MASTERED - HEBA KADRY
Ghost In You
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal, key, percussion and some guitar
Lee Lavender - Guitar
Ian McCutcheon (Mojave3, The Loose Salute, Moon Attendant) - Drum
Cranium
Lee Lavender - Guitar
Kev Wells (Coley Park) - Guitar
Chris Monger - Drums
Paul Blewett (Moon Attendant, BHB) - Bass
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal, some bass, key, percussion and some guitar
The Mighty
Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave3, Black Hearted Brother) - Guitar
Jackie Oates - voc
Ian McCutcheon - Drums
Robin Bennett (Bennett, Wilson, Poole) - Flute
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal, some bass, key, percussion and some guitar
Still Dream
Lee Lavender - Git, synth & co-write
Chris Monger - drum
Paul Blewett - Bass
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal, some bass, key and some guitar
No One Can Ever See This (inst)
Chris Monger - drums
Nick Holton -synth, percussion and some guitar
We Shall Never Speak
Neil Halstead - Guitar
Lee Lavender - Guitar
Paul Blewett - bass
Chris Monger - drums
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal, percussion
Powder Moon
Jackie Oates - Voc
Paul Blewett - Bass
Ian McCutcheon - drums
Charlie Holton - Voc/ synth
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal and some guitar
You Changed the Way You Smile
Jackie Oates - voc
Farmer Dave - Lap Steel
Ian McCutcheon - Drums
Charlie Holton - Synth
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal, some bass, key, percussion and some guitar
Sea Of Glass
Lee Lavender - guitar & Co-write
Ian McCutcheon - drums
Nick Holton -synth, Vocal, percussion
All Tracks written by Nick Holton apart from We Shall Never Speak - Hoton/ Halstead, Still Dream & Sea Of Glass by Lavender/ Holton
supported by 12 fans who also own “We Shall Never Speak”
Why do I love this record? it has a haunting sound with a destination. The vocals are very sweet and the riffs hook you in . The songs have a great momentem they begin at once place then end some other place and don't go in a circle . if that makes sense? jimmyfuc
This late ’90s shoegaze record gets a full remaster on the advent of its 25th anniversary, its woozy melodies brighter than ever. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 26, 2021
supported by 11 fans who also own “We Shall Never Speak”
Shoegaze ist die Kunst des Dröhnens, doch „Everything Is Alive“ setzt diese Elemente nur sparsam ein. Statt Hall- und Zerr-Sounds aufzutürmen, schäumt die Musik in feinen Bläschen über.
https://tortue.substack.com/i/140348114/slowdive-everything-is-alive-dead-oceans Daniel Welsch
