ALBUM REVIEW: Holding Absence – ‘Modern Life Is Lonely’

With Modern Life Is Lonely, Holding Absence present a dynamic full-length album that traverses through the intimacy of personal and introspective songs, as well as exploring themes that look beyond the individual across our wider world. The sonic diversity and experimentation on Modern Life Is Lonely aptly enhances the themes with immersive atmospheres.

Greeted with delicate birdsong, Re-Animate opens the album with a direction led by natural imagery. Lucas Woodland’s soft intimate vocal performance swim through drifting clean guitar tones. Grounding beats and a rhythmic build up strike through the gentle arrangements erupting into a proggier sound. The disjointed feel of the music mirrors the lyrics: “Pull me apart and put the pieces back to save me”. Combining raspy, distorted vocals and cleans provide a burst of power. Darker lyrics sit jarringly within the more hopeful and uplifting final passage. High energy awaits in the anthemic Reflection. A charismatic vocal performance carries the emotional textures of the music wash over with flowing movement of the rising and falling dynamics.

Heaven arrives with a dreamy introduction that is shattered with intense percussion. Electronics and vocals form a more minimalist verse that leads to a full-band arrangement in the chorus. A piano motif soars above grounding guitars, drums and textural synths. The album’s title track emerges with a phasing intro, a band-pass filter on the music centres the overlaid unfiltered, clean vocals. Gradually building instrumental layers are interspersed with glitches and experimental effects. The disjointed aspects and synths draw together sounds and themes from across the album. Fierce anguish manifests in the track’s breakdown. Take Me With You is an intimate addition to the tracklist revolving around themes of love, obsession and not knowing if it is reciprocated.

Shells Like Us presents a softer sound comprised of guitar and vocal accompaniment. Lullaby-like, chords land like the gentle lapping of the see upon the shore as the music fades out gradually. Whisper Of A Dream, having begun slowly, explodes into high-speed relentless rhythms driven by guitars and electronic layers. The song conveys an introspective display of light and shade; note the powerful line “Being a human is more of a burden than I was hoping”. Through the catchy chorus and driving verses, Lucid Love brings a hyperpop-leaning sound that is emphasised with powerful instrumentation and an intense mix. Electronic beats in sync with the lead vocal phrasing injects a dynamic feel to the flow of the music in the track’s verse. The anthemic choruses see a culmination of the energy that gradually augments across the verses.

Scorched Earth’s eerie opening proceeds into a fast-paced momentum with a lead piano melody taking the focus. The rhythmic verse is calmer in comparison with a moody feel. It’s one of the more shadowy offerings on the album, revealed through the memorable lyric “Every angel falls in the end” and a thunderous breakdown. The blissful Lullaby conveys a sense of closeness with its minimalist instrumental layers. Just over a minute long, this short track provides a brief pause amidst the high energy of the other tracks and provides a prelude to the album’s closing song.

Kyoto Snow delves into the vastness, magnificence and sense of awe that is found in our world. Holding Absence call together the diversity of their genre influences into this track, with bright acoustic guitars and catchy vocal melodies alongside heavier guitars and electronic textures. Kyoto Snow reaches a powerful climax before gently fading out into bird song.

For fans of: Siamese, Defences, Future Palace

‘Modern Life Is Lonely’ by Holding Absence is out now on Sumerian Records.

Words by Holly Royle