HOLY paint with all the colours on new single "Heard Her"

20 November 2017, 10:00 | Written by Austin Maloney

(Tracks)

(HOLY)

HOLY is the baby of Swedish musician Hannes Ferm, whose emergence from Umeå a few years back with the Stabs album won him a lot of fans. But things have changed in HOLY’s world now, with Ferm now permanently based in Stockholm and a single released in September, "Premonition / ◯ / It Shines Through", that shows a sound that’s dimensions away from the scrappy garage-rock of Stabs. And he’s continued that movement into a new sound on the follow-up single, "Heard Her".

“I’d just moved to Stockholm when I began recording - so I was adjusting to that - and the garage pop thing I had happening on Stabs… I just didn’t feel comfortable with it anymore. I wanted to go beyond my outer limits,” says Ferm of his new stylistic direction, and 'Heard Her' is the sound of those outer limits being reached.

Ferm has moved from being the leader of a band to a full-on solo act (he plays almost everything on his recordings himself these days), and it shows in the music. "Heard Her" is a psychedelic carousel: Ferm’s vocal and personality sits in the centre and the music swirls around it. It’s a lush and detail-rich sound, music with all the colours filled in, a swirl of crashing guitars, rolling drums, with passages and motifs that pass in and out of the mix, a dream-trip through space-minded alt-rock.

"Heard Her" and "Premonition / ◯ / It Shines Through" are both part of HOLY’s new album All These Worlds Are Yours, which is out 26 January on PNKSLM.