Holy Balm: It’s You (Not Not Fun, 2012)

September 7, 2013 at 7:44 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Holy Balm: It’s You

When I saw this group at SXSW, there was a huge crowd at the front of the small, seated venue in the back of the coffee shop that they played at. The shop’s staff kept telling everyone that this was a fire hazard and that everyone needed to get back in their seats, but everyone just shrugged it off and said “who cares? this is dance music.” This album captures the sounds of what they do live, but of course the crowd adds more energy. But it’s a fun album, usually maintaining a lo-fi 4/4 pulse with echoed vocals, not quite as psych as a lot of NNF bands but not as polished and deep as the 100% Silk stuff. There’s plenty of post-punk nods, from the Y Pants cover “Favourite Sweater” to “Losing Control” which reminds one a little bit of a certain Joy Division song. “Phone Song” is probably my favorite, it just seems like the track that would mix best in a DJ set, with plenty of interesting layers of vocals and synths, I think it has more of a minimal techno build than the rest of the tracks. “Take It” is slower heads close to Nite Jewel lo-fi slow-jam territory, and “Town Called Hope” keeps this slower tempo, but “One & Only” ends the album back up to house tempo, with extensive use of rave sirens over its 8.5 minute groove.

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