Holy Monitor is a psychedelic rock quintet whose sound incorporates elements of krautrock, space-rock and ambient music. The band’s reverb-soaked vocals crawl beneath waves of pulsating minimal rhythms, while fuzz driven guitars and proggy keys create a hypnotic sonic ambience. Holy Monitor deal exclusively in hypnotic ambience and utopian soundscapes.
Athens psych-rockers Holy Monitor released their new album Southern Lights via Blackspin Records/Primitive Music, an astonishing and affecting follow up to their 2020 critically acclaimed EP release, This Desert Land.
Thirty-nine minutes long, “Southern Lights” LP offers eight songs that are overflowing with celestial melodies, encircled by psychedelic warmth. With lyrical themes inspired by Aristotle’s cosmology the band invite us into a dreamy journey in fizzing waterfall keys plunging down from space rock guitars.
The album is opening with the “River” slowly building up into a powerful, repetitive groove backbeat swirling within through proggy keys and gentle tender vocals.
“Naked In the Rain”
“Naked in the Rain” moves into a frenzied Bacchanalian rite, taking listeners into a hedonistic, mad dance to exorcise the rain and revolt against reality. This Bacchic ritual to the sun symbolizes the human need to rebirth, the ecstatic loss of self, a provocative critique of conformity.
“Blue Whale”
The Greek quintet’s latest single, “Blue Whale” is a lofty pop effort filled with warm and comforting reverb-drenched guitars.
“The Sky Is Falling Down”
The near-eight-minute epic “The Sky Is Falling Down” is charged with swirling bass lines trapped in a cyclonic whirlwind of fuzzed-out guitar riffs.
Holy Monitor’s third full-length release is painted with luscious soundscapes with a healing utopian feeling of connecting with unspoiled Nature. The album was recorded live at Suono Studio and mixed up by Alex Bolbasis.
Holy Monitor were founded in Athens, Greece during the summer of 2015 by guitarist Stefanos Mitsis, singer/guitarist George Nikas, keyboardist Vangelis Mitsis, bassist Alex Bolpasis and drummer Dimitris Doumouliakas. Over the course of a short period of time, they release the EP’s “Golden Light” and “Aeolus” by Ongakubaka Records.
In 2016 they start recording their first full-length self-titled album which is released in February 2017 by the Greek independent label Blackspin/Primitive Music. Their critically acclaimed debut is followed by intense live performing, sharing the stage with established psych-rock bands like The Black Angels, Wooden Shjips and Kikagaku Moyo.
Their sophomore album “II” comes next year introducing a heavier, droning spaced out sound from rhythmic krautrock to blissed-out space rock and on into modern-day psych permutations. Self-released EP’s “Ghost” and “This Desert Land” follow, signifying a new era for the band with a focus on jamming and experimenting, contributing a slight shift in their sound and leading to the band’s most focused record yet, 2021’s live recorded “Southern Lights”.
HOLY MONITOR – “Southern Lights”
[Blackspin – Primitive Music]
Format: Red/White Swirl Vinyl (LP), Digital
Album Order Link: Blackspin
Tracklist:
River
Naked In The Rain
Blue Whale
Southern Lights
The Sky Is Falling Down
Hourglass
Ocean Trail
Under The Sea
Holy Monitor
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