We first heard from currently NYC based producer Holm a few months ago with very offbeat track “Graves” and his latest EP There never was only continues his forays into the realm of deep experimentation in the electronic genres. In his own words it is, “An EP built on a strong foundation of isolation, frustration and sadness,” during his time as a student in the jazz program at the New School. So this surely speaks for anyone who’s moved to NYC young and has experienced the pitfalls of the rat race, which at times can be so cold and unfeeling that you may just want to hide away… and do exactly what Holm has done here. But his time at the New School clearly paid off in terms of his electronic production, because it gives him an understanding of the experimental elements of music that only a jazz student would know.
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First track “Week Alone,” features all live instrumentation, which only adds to its completely organic and intensely intimate presentation of a lonely young life in NYC. In Holm’s view, “this song is essentially about New York City,” and is an introspective portrait of the compartmentalization of the feelings behind being truly alone in an unfamiliar place.
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“We’ll All Turn To Dust,” was created over the period of a few months and included in the EP itself last minute. It evokes the terrible and entirely simple assumption that most people will not always care about you as much as you do them.
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Third track “Faults,” is one of those rare ones that are written in a few hour time span when something you can’t always put your finger one just comes forth. It’s a lesson in the pitfalls of narcissism and not recognizing one’s own faults when you are unable to look outwards.
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Entirely ambient track “There Never Was” is so fluid that it can be whatever you want it to be and allows for a great deal of introspection by the listener.
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In true information age style the aptly named “Heartless (whtevr)” is in his own words “blown out and careless” but sometimes through this musical bursting forth we truly get to the heart of the issue and expose the raw underlying emotions.
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Ending track “Hold On” is a circling back on the idea of simply “figuring things out,” and through this EP, it’s clear that Holm will surely get there after many late night walks in the city that never sleeps.
