Entry 327 - Holy Other - Held

 

It's a rainy morning here. One of those mornings where it's better to stay inside and not do anything. The kind of day that sucks the soul out of your will to do anything productive. Just like the music on Held.

Holy Other was part of the witch house movement in the last 2000's and early 2010's. What is witch house? I'm not 100% sure but what I have surmised is that its electronic music that has been slowed down way past a reasonable speed to create a lethargic effect on the music. It's depressed, it's obscure, and it's pretty damn cool.

In the case of Held the music has this ghostly feel to it. It's grounded in music created in this world but it's been slightly detached from the convention. Essentially the music sounds like an evolution of 2-step, deep dubstep, and various other UK garage genres... but just much slower. Instead of 140-150 bpm, were in the 90-100 bpm range.

What draws me into the music the most though is the atmosphere. It's so depressed, it's so detached from reality... it's just there doing it's own thing. Most of the music has an atmosphere so thick that you can cut it with a knife. Be it a heavy synth backing, layered female vocals, or even the percussion itself... it all lends to this suffocating atmosphere that lacks any motivation to do anything at a reasonable pace. It's fantastic.

Holy Other is an artist I only got into in the past five years. Held is a great album for mornings where you want to snuff out the will to live, or to go back to the land of dreams with. Excellent stuff.