Holy Holy

The Australian rock outfit Holy Holy shares no ties to any religious group, even if its moniker suggests otherwise, yet the group demonstrates a knack for lifting songs toward celestial heights. Brisbane vocalist Timothy Carroll and Melbourne guitarist Oscar Dawson established the project across multiple years and distant locations after first crossing paths in Southeast Asia amid volunteer teaching assignments. They reestablished contact in 2011 across Europe, where Carroll performed as a singer/songwriter in Stockholm while Dawson worked in Berlin alongside his former group Dukes of Windsor. Once each returned separately to Australia, the pair formalized their partnership. Drummer Ryan Strathie, bassist Graham Ritchie, and producer Matt Redlich on synths completed the lineup. The band issued its inaugural single, "Impossible Like You," in early 2014, with the four-track debut EP The Pacific appearing shortly afterward. Their first full-length album, When the Storms Would Come, followed a year later as a ten-song set of expansive, guitar-driven soundscapes reminiscent of Mark Knopfler or CSNY. Bolstered by airplay for the major single "You Cannot Call for Love Like a Dog," the group sold out performances while routing tours through Australia and Europe. Holy Holy resurfaced in 2016 with "Darwinism," a track later featured on the sophomore album Paint, which reached the Australian album charts' Top Ten upon its 2017 arrival.