HOLY

The Swedish ensemble HOLY, echoing outfits such as the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev, avoids remaining anchored in any one sonic region. Its catalog moves from lively garage rock on Stabs in 2015 through expansive dream pop on All These Worlds Are Yours in 2018 to underwater bedroom synth pop on Ryder in 2020, while every release keeps a melodic exterior above currents of intense longing underneath.

HOLY functions as the project name adopted by Stockholm musician Hannes Ferm, whose earliest release arrived as the four-song EP Sliver of Your Heart in 2014. Issued on Krazy Krille Rekords, the combination of ambitious bedroom pop and psych-infused garage punk earned the act a contract with the nearby label PNKSLM. Stabs became HOLY’s first album for that imprint and stayed squarely inside garage rock territory.

Ferm spent the following years shaping a wider and more daring method, which produced the exploratory and densely psychedelic All These Worlds Are Yours in January 2018. Turning away from large-scale, guitar-led arrangements, he embraced synth-centered and more inward textures. Partnering with Jacob Haage, producer of El Perro del Mar’s KoKoro, Ferm carried his song sketches into Haage’s studio for full realization.

Joined by a small circle of collaborators that included Nora Karlsson, guitarist in HOLY’s live band, Ferm shaped a set of pocket symphonies half the length of the tracks on All These Worlds Are Yours yet charged with matching emotional weight. PNKSLM released Ryder in early 2020.