Album Review: Holograms - Holograms

Holograms
Holograms
Rating: Grrrr

Although these days Sweden is probably better known for its bright pop confections from artists like Robyn, Peter Bjorn & John, Swedish House Mafia, and Avicii, there is still, owing to the bleak Scandinavian winters, a darker side to the Swedish music scene that is often forgotten. The quartet, three of whom work monotonous jobs in a factory, travel along the darker roads of classic post-punk, drawing influence from early Cure, Joy Division, Gang of Four, Wire, and PiL. Their music is full of driving beats, angular, scraping guitars, and deep, pulsating basslines, broken up every now and then with blasts of aging synthesizers. While there is nothing extraordinarily new with this type of sound, like Danish peers Iceage, it is all about attitude and musicianship in order to overcome any claims of being pale comparisons.

From the opening, ominous chug of bass and scrawling guitars on "Monolith," Holograms could easily come across as a Joy Division cover band until the song takes off into a fury of garage punk elements.



But just when you think you have their sound pegged, they find a way to throw a wrench into things, like on the synth driven "Chasing My Mind" which sounds like a clash between The Cars and Ramones.



Or putting together a hook laden punk-pop track like "Orpheo."



But there are also plenty of bread and butter angular post-punk tracks to wind anyone up into a frenzy. From the frantic two minutes of "Transform,"



bass and organ driven "Stress,"



and the dark, grinding pulse of "Memories of Sweat."



But it is always when they just throw something crazy to the wind where things get really interesting. The ridiculously catchy "ABC City" which blends chanted vocals along with gritty guitars and blooping keyboards,



the Modern English meets Cure scrawl of "Fever,"



and even on the roaring closing track "You Are Ancient" which shows that these boys know their way around a hook.



Holgrams is just a tight, well-rounded debut that knows what it is and how to make it stand out in a crowded field of similar bands in the genre. These little quirks that you find within the tracks makes you come back for more, and also points the direction in which these guys can take their sound. I doubt this will be the last time we hear from them.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.