HOLY OTHER
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“Holy Other is a critical voice in a world that’s become emotionally remote and his latest record is monument to that fact. Speaking to a humanity that few producers can replicate, Lieve proves that Holy Other’s efforts are just as essential in 2021 as they were in 2012.” – THE LINE OF BEST FIT
“As the final moments of ‘Bough Down’ play out, Ainley’s sleight-of-hand in The sequencing of his second Holy Other album is revealed, leaving the listener experiencing a cautious fragility and subversive, timeless sense of purpose.” – CLASH MAGAZINE
Holy Other made his debut in 2010 with the release of a 7″ single, We Over, onTransparent Records. Shortly after he signed to TriAngle and released his debut EP, With U, in 2011. With U was highly acclaimed by music critics, many applauding its unique blend of R&B, UK Garage, and House Music. Paul Lester, writing for The Guardian, remarked in reference to the EP “remember those stories about Prince being a Cocteau Twins fan? Well, this is what might have resulted had he worked with Robin Guthrie or Kevin Shields”, while Marc Hogan, in his review for Spin Magazine wrote that the EP “blasts through not only genres, but the divide between the otherworldly and the physical”.
In 2012 Holy Other released his debut album, Held, again, on TriAngle Records. The album garnered very positive reviews and was featured on numerous Best Of lists that year. Ruth Saxelby, in her eight-out-of-ten review for Pitchfork stated “his music is of the wholly sensual, painfully physical kind, and with Held he triumphantly translates his bruised intimacy to full-length format without losing any of its skin-prickling power”. In a nine-out-of ten review Mixmag assessed that the album acted “as the perfect catalyst for moments of intense intimacy” and in another nine-out-of-ten review FACT Magazine concluded that “in both musical and studio accomplishment Holy Other has come into his own as a strong, individual, musical voice”. In support of Held, Holy Other performed at numerous music festivals around the world and also toured with artists including Beach House, Amon Tobin and Lucky Dragons.
With some years passed, in 2021 Holy Other returns with Lieve, his first new work to be released in 9 years, and the start of a new chapter. Emerging from an extended stay at Bidston Observatory on the Wirral, Lieve was recorded throughout 2020 in the North West of England. Using the acoustics of the observatory — the cavernous basement and the geometrically-perfect wooden domes — Holy Other recorded and resampled material that would become the bedrock of Lieve. A marker in the sand as his first output since 2012’s critically acclaimed Held, these recordings — including the voice of NYX’s Sian O’Gorman, violin from Simmy Singh and saxophone from Daniel Thorne — were cut, manipulated and pieced together to form Lieve.
Much like his past work, Holy Other leaves the listener to draw their own semantic conclusions from the record. The lyrics are ambiguous — ghostly voices, whispers and stutters interwoven with his signature sound palette. Still, the expressive mood from prior releases remains intact, even if these intimate textures and deft rhythms pick up more mature questions about false starts and failed escapes. Lieve breaks almost a decade of silence, finding the language to articulate painful feelings, exhaling, and moving forward.
Holy Other is available for solo sets and AV shows with Pedro Maia.