A few months after announcing their Grand Hiatus tour, Holy Holy have released a double EP to farewell their dedicated fans.

The collection of new tracks and reimagined versions of some of the band’s most beloved songs from their near-15-year career makes up Sweet Bitter Sweet, released via Sony Music Australia yesterday (9 May).

“Initially, we had planned to record acoustic versions of some of our favourite songs from Holy Holy,” singer Tim Carroll said. “The lyrics and stories come through more when songs are played stripped back, and it’s always a test of the songwriting to see if the work can stand up without the clothing of layers of production and effects.”

Carroll added, “During those sessions, we couldn’t help but write some new songs too. So, what has emerged is a double EP: five new songs and four stripped-back versions of past material.

“We also added orchestral versions of three songs from our fourth album, Hello My Beautiful World, featuring cinematic string arrangements of our songs by Brisbane composer Toby Alexander, with additional instrumentation from [guitarist and producer] Oscar [Dawson] and some extra vocal layers from me.”

In January, Holy Holy announced that they’d soon embark on an indefinite hiatus and revealed tour dates to farewell their devoted Australian fans. Punters will get to farewell the group during a national tour this month and next month. You can find tickets via the band’s website.

To celebrate the release of Sweet Bitter Sweet, Holy Holy have explored each song on the double EP, track by track, for The Music.

Sweet Bitter Sweet

Over the past 6 months, after deciding to take a break, we spent some time in studios on the Mornington Peninsula and Byron Bay, recording a few memorable sessions. Initially, we had planned to record acoustic versions of some of our favourite songs from the project. We sometimes play our songs in a stripped-back way on tour, and fans have often asked for an acoustic release.

So we started there. It was nice to perform the songs in that way - using acoustic guitars and piano - letting the music speak for itself. The lyrics and stories come through more, and it's always a test of the songwriting to see if the work can stand up without the clothing of layers of production and effects.

During those sessions, we couldn’t help but write some new songs too. So, what has emerged is a double EP: five new songs and seven ‘acoustic’ versions. We also added orchestral versions of three songs from our fourth album, Hello My Beautiful World, featuring cinematic string arrangements of our songs by Brisbane composer Toby Alexander, with additional instrumentation from Oscar and some extra vocal layers from me.

Side A features five new songs. Each its own world, but unsurprisingly, there is a theme of saying farewell that emerges.

Side A

Sweet Bitter Sweet, the title track, explores that feeling of the bittersweet. It has a lo-fi, slightly off-kilter feel, with some strong melodic and lyrical moments. It’s the story of a young couple who fall pregnant unexpectedly and is largely autobiographical - glimpses of moments depicting the world shifting under their feet.

Love You Still is a song about enduring love - the kind that remains perpetually, even if you never see that person again, even if they’ve passed on, or if things have become difficult. Some loves just stay with you.

We Think is a bigger tune. It dives between scenes of domestic intimacy and ideas of what it is to live in the current world. The duality of the normality and insanity that have become our everyday.

Island is a wild tune. Really fun to sing. We tracked the drums and vocals live together, and Oscar wrote a really tough guitar part, too. It’s a side of Holy Holy that's always been there, and it was fun to take it for a spin one last time.

So Be It is a meditation on goodbyes. A fitting last track. As we prepare for this final tour, it’s natural that these themes came out of me. The song is about what it feels like to say goodbye- and how strange and uncomfortable that can be. We often try to soften the moment by making plans to see each other again or promising to keep in touch. But this song is about sitting with the feeling, letting it be - because the living of life is the saying goodbye.

Side B

Side B features acoustic, stripped-back and orchestral versions of some of our works. Hearing these songs so familiar to us in this context gives them new life.

Maybe You Know is a song we released in 2018 on our record, My Own Pool Of Light. We feel there are new perspectives to be found in it - taking the drums away and filling the space with vocal harmonies changes the feeling, and by extension, the meaning. Somehow we find it sadder but also more hopeful at the same time.

Teach Me About Dying is also originally from the same record (My Own Pool Of Light). Similar to the new songs on Side A, it is intentionally bittersweet; it’s a song about dying that’s really about living. Turning it into a ballad makes it more melancholy but counterintuitively brings more beauty to the story; it’s about leaning toward life.

Ready was originally released on our album Cellophane (2023); the original version features some production and a guest vocal by the Tasmanian duo Sumner. That version is a party tune; Chloe from Sumner delivers a back-and-forth dialogue through the song with Tim, a discussion about the plans for the night ahead.

In this new version, we dispense with the duo, and Tim is a solo character launching through the night, discussing the evening and making observations to, and with, himself. Of course, this changes the entire aesthetic; this new version is no longer a party-banger. Rather, it feels more like a slow-mo solo journey across the kaleidoscope of the nighttime.

Elevator was originally released on our second album, Paint (2017). This one has commonly been a favourite amongst fans, and we started the habit of playing it at shows in a stripped-back format. It feels nice to hear the words sung more introspectively and to allow the choral vocals some space; it feels more like a song about letting someone go, now.

The Aftergone (feat CLEWS) was originally released on our album Hello My Beautiful World (2021). The original version, and this rethought, orchestral version, feature the vocals of Lily and Grace from CLEWS. They have performed the song with us so many times on stage; although never like this.

Normally this song, written with Kim Moyes from The Presets, is intended to move people on the dance floor. This version is more like a dream. The orchestral arrangement, which can be heard in part on the original, is by our friend Toby Alexander, an arranger and composer from Brisbane.

Believe Anything was also from Hello My Beautiful World; the original version, with cascading synthesiser arpeggios, a lumbering drum beat, and a palm muted bass-part, has been transmuted by Toby Alexander into a string version; with sweeping legato movements, string noises, and rhythmic pulses.

Ghosts, originally also from Hello My Beautiful World, is on this record in instrumental form; with Tim’s melodies transferred onto cello and viola, and the original piano part played by electric guitar. 

It was refreshing for these sessions not to have much of a plan. We weren’t sure what we were making, and it didn't have to be too much. It’s really just an intimate parting gift for fans. A few final moments of creativity and a look back over the work we made. It’s got some really special moments on it, and we hope fans enjoy it.

Sweet Bitter Sweet is out now via Sony Music Australia. Check it out here.