With cosmic psychedelia beamed in from the twinkling furthest edge of the universe ‘Grey’ dives headfirst into the black hole void of depression but manages to retain the kaleidoscopic color of its far-out soundscape.
It begins with a feral fuzz as the radiowaves coalesce into the manic melody. The music matches the dissonance of the song’s theme and sonic buzz beautifully. There is something tantrically terrifying about the scope and endless depth of the soundscape that provides a freefalling feeling that the listener can get utterly lost in.
There is a growling menace to the guitars even as they pick out the happy twinkling twang of the main riff refrain. As the band descends into the track’s first chorus the roaring static of the background soundscape is dialed up in the mix to create a stupefying sense of chaos.
This is songwriting not afraid to get a little experimental with the sound and the production is pitch-perfect allowing Holy Coves to really dance with the duality of the merry melody and morose message. By playing these themes off one another it provides a light and the end of the tunnel for the darkness, and the truth of poetic wisdom to the brighter shades.
In the hands of a less accomplished artist, label, or production team the song would have lacked this vision of purpose and either descended far too deep into the depressive or too high in opposition trying to find an audience or mainstream appeal. Instead, this is a psychedelic indie rock that gazes backward into the void of true counter-culture creativity, before leaping forward to bring only the best bits with it into the exciting unknown of tomorrow.
Holy Coves have a buzzing brilliance in the same frequency as Radiohead or Placebo in their prime, it is entirely unique and utterly captivating.
