Album Review: The Holidays - Real Feel

19 February 2014 | 12:13 pm | Benny Doyle

Real Feel is a confident move forwards from a band that could’ve easily got lost in the indie flood, and although not defining, it definitely feels good.



There's more than a few flashes of The Holidays of old to be found on Real Feel, but this record offers so much more than the tropical indie that summarised 2010 debut Post Paradise. A four-year break has given the band the technical skills and creative scope to write songs with kaleidoscopic vision, the sounds bouncing around the record in a floating state, pulling you up and away as you listen in and get lost.

Long Now immediately tells you that you're about to embark on an adventure – the synths are sci-fi, while the drums and piano are straight thriller. Simon Jones' vocals soon arrive, albeit with sonics far richer than their first record, and together it all makes for an ideal intro. All Time High stands out as single-fodder and on first listens you're quickly taking the bait, but repeated spins show the track to be fairly shallow; Voices Drifting is way more intriguing, with layers of effects and cutting guitar combining to make you pine for the afternoon sun in your eyes.

The Phoenix-aping Japan Window again challenges the expected, with a variety of sections feeling foreign yet super-inviting, while the back-end and additional percussive elements during the final few tracks pushes through some languid moments before Morning Workout bursts in conclusive colour. Real Feel is a confident move forwards from a band that could've easily got lost in the indie flood, and although not defining, it definitely feels good.