The Holy Pictures is the fifth studio album by David Holmes, released through Go! Beat in September 8, 2008. It is Holmes's first album since 2003's David Holmes presents The Free Association. The album departs from the eclectic soundtrack-to-an-imaginary-film style of his previous studio albums, in favour of a more personal approach.[1]
To promote The Holy Pictures, Holmes released two singles "I Heard Wonders" and "Holy Pictures". The album was nominated for the 2008 Choice Music Prize as the best Irish album of the year, losing to Jape's Ritual.[2][3][4]
Background
David Holmes called The Holy Pictures his most personal record. It is the first Holmes' album where he performs most of the vocals, which wasn't initially planned, but after "all the music was nearly complete, he realised that no one else can sing on it but him". The album's personal feelings respond to the death of his parents, the loss of a friend, and the birth of his daughter.[5]
The closing track "The Ballad of Sarah and Jack" is Holmes' tribute to his parents.[1]
The Holy Pictures, for the most part, burst with "kaleidoscopic color". The first half "vividly approximates the decadent, ultraviolet-lit scene at a student-disco circa 1990, with a steady clip of head-rushed, stoned-immaculate pop songs". The instrumental song "Story of the Ink" refers back to the "nocturnal desolation" of Primal Scream's Trainspotting theme, until a tremolo electric-guitar and amplified frequencies gradually lifts the song into a "psychedelic splendor". At the back-end, these euphoric feelings progressively become more distant, somber, and "something more substantial than a blissed-out shoegazing nostalgia trip".[1]
The album has garnered generally favourable reviews, and is seen as a successful departure from its predecessors.[7] Thom Jurek, writing for AllMusic, called it "engaging, at times stunning", praising the pop aesthetic of the upbeat songs, while remarking that "there is that sadness at this album's heart that draws one in; it doesn't feel like mope or exorcism, just personal".[6]Pitchfork added that the closing three songs "seek to recapture a certain back-to-the-womb comfort... and prove an affecting come-down to the preceding songs' sunglasses-at-night swagger".[1]
Both critics praised the final song, "The Ballad of Sarah and Jack", lauding it as the most absorbing track, "gorgeous", and "unspeakably somber".[1][6] Jurek also favoured the opener, "I Heard Wonders", calling it a "killer track".[6]
BBC Music Magazine praised the alum, enjoying the unexpected stylistic direction and its heartfelt sound, but isolating "Theme/IMC" as a misfire, which "starts like Brian Eno but ends up sounding like a backwards cousin of Crockett's Theme".[9]
Track listing
All music and lyrics written David Holmes, except where noted.
The track "Love Reign Over Me" is featured on the episode "Freddie" (series 3, episode 5) of the UK version of Skins.[12] The track "Holy Pictures" is featured in football video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. "Theme / I.M.C." previously appeared on the compilation The Oh Yeah Sessions '08 as "McCready Rides Again".[13] The song "I Heard Wonders" was featured in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics[14] and, later in 2012, as the theme for the first series of Dara Ó Briain's Science Club.
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