Live Review: Holy Holy Glass Skies

 Good news live music lovers and loverettes: Jive has a new sound system! The old mountainous speaker stacks are gone, replaced by some sexy ones hanging down from the ceiling dealies (technical name) that sound super crisp without seeming to sacrifice any of the power of the out-going monoliths. Holy Holy’s intricate musical constructions were an excellent use of the new set-up, the clarity of their arrangements very much accentuated through the clean new speakers.

Before the main event, local supports, Glass Skies indulged the blooming crowd (and themselves) in some psych/prog rock. The trio set their synth to laser sounds and amicably thrashed and fuzzed through a vibrant set. Check them out if you’re into base-o’-the-neck guitar solos.

Holy Holy took the stage looking like they just wandered out of one of those “omg dudes with beards and long hair are so in right now” articles that have been popular on the interwebs this week. The tacit swooning intensified as Timothy Carroll’s precise vocals unfolded over ex-Hungry Kids Of Hungary drummer, Ryan Strathie’s felt-mallet overture. The crowd’s default posture for the rest of the night became ‘reverent hush’.

Oscar Dawson’s dusty steel slide work was a highlight too, working some serious magic in and around the clearings and valleys of the mellifluent landscapes Holy Holy so mesmerisingly create. Holy Holy’s folksy-indie had its musical genesis in Europe, where Dawson and Carroll started recording together, and a sense of ex-patriot nostalgia weaves through the dreamy nature imagery and emotional romanticism of their artisan-like tracks. The attention to detail in the composition and arrangement of tracks like House Of Cards and Cincinnati speak to the band’s patience and craftspersonship.

In addition to their acclaim-deserving high rotation singles and a peck of new tracks, Holy Holy were kind enough to perform their recent Like A Version rendering of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. The richness in Carroll’s voice replaces Ian Curtis’ disconnected, outsider drone (incredible respect intended) with a layer of empathy and warmth that transforms the track almost completely.

Holy Holy’s History Tour concluding with one last show in Melbourne, they’ll be straight up to Brissy to get recording. If some of the new material they pulled out at Jive is anything to go by Holy Holy might be trending gently into some more rock and/or roll type territory, which ought to be a sound to behold.