March 19, 2024

Holy Esque – At Hope’s Ravine

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From the word go Pat Hynes’ voice trembles and thrills, it spooks, but it is also caring, slow and tender. The chords sting, they echo from some cavernous hanger. Sting! That’s right! At times the band create the kind of atmosphere copyrighted by The Police. Hynes sings with the same intensity as Marvin Lee Aday, sometimes I feel like I’m listening to the beginning of a 1980s rock classic. The band do profound beginnings and euphoric endings well, they do little else. Hynes cries out desperately and at times vengefully, his voice wavers. It feels too obvious a thing to draw comparisons with Kings of Leon, but when I listen I keep thinking I should go back and listen to a few tracks from the Kings. There is a big indie influence. Opening track At Hope’s Ravine blurs into a shoegazer’s rock out. I’m reminded of Adorable, Boo Radleys and Ride The blurs, the trembling voice, the indecipherable lyrics and the fuzzed guitars register with your subconscious. I’d have a siesta to this. The band are metronomic like Clap Your Hands And Say Yeh. At Hope’s Ravine is an autopilot album. I’d travel home down the M1 to it, if I had a car.

Holy Esque’s At Hope’s Ravine was released on the 4th March 2016.

The band are touring in the month of April.

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