FOR a band who over two albums have become one of Australia's best guitar bands, My Own Pool Of Light could be seen as a momentous gamble by Holy Holy.
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This is no guitar album. Holy Holy's Oscar Dawson and Tim Carroll have thrown their music open to all possibilities; keyboards, vocal chants and electronic beats. The result is thrilling.
Melody has always been at the heart of Holy Holy, and that hasn't changed. Maybe You Know is an anthemic burst of synth pop, Hatswing carries the dread of Thom Yorke and Sandra, inspired by Melbourne transgender woman Sandra Pankhurst, is a pulsating epic of rhythmic drumming and vocals before Dawson explodes into a rare guitar solo.
Carroll has also opened his lyrical palette to larger themes. He addresses toxic masculinity (Frida), asylum seeker policy (Flight) and depression (Maybe You Know).
Holy Holy have gambled and come up trumps.
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