We are very pleased to announce details of Holly's forthcoming
album, A Loud Call.
Recorded in Nashville with engineer and producer Mark Nevers (Lambchop,
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Andrew Bird), the album includes performances
from a handful of very special guests including members of Lambchop,
Palace and The Silver Jews. Holly's long-time band - Bree van Reyk
(drums, organ, accordion) and Jens Birchall (cello, bass, mandolin)
- accompany beautifully. Strings and horns were recorded and
arranged in the Kangaroo Valley by the producer of Holly's first two
albums, Tony Dupè.
The
first single, 'A Heart Divided', will be available for download from
iTunes and up there on myspace on May 24, all of which is very
modern. To celebrate, Holly and her band have planned 'A Heart
Divided Tour' on the east coast in June. Dates are on the
shows page.
A Loud Call will be released by the fine people at Spunk!/EMI in July. SYDNEY SPUNKS Holly has just been added to the Spunk showcase next Wednesday night at the Factory in Sydney. The show is also the Sydney launch of Grand Salvo's amazing new album, Death. Holly will play a short set, maybe solo. Or maybe with a friend or guest. Also playing are fellow Australian Spunk artists Machine Translations and Firekites. Good show. Oh, please note that the Bulli show on the 19th will be a full-band affair.
Holly will be coming out of her new-album-hibernation to play one of the Spunk Records Australian showcase shows. Also playing on the night - April 19 at the Heritage Hotel in Bulli - will be Melbourne's Grand Salvo and Newcastle's Firekites. Details are on the shows page.
Sorry.
Happy new year everyone. In recording news from across the seas, Holly can be heard singing on the new Hayden record, In Field & Town, which is out now in Canada on Hardwood Records, the USA on Fat Possum and out soon in Australia on Spunk Records. In live show news from around the corner, Holly joined Andrew Bird to sing a couple of songs at his Sydney show on Monday night. They sung Andrew's song 'Spare-Ohs' and a great old Handsome Family number called 'Tin Foil'.
To celebrate Spunk Records tenth anniversary as a label there will be a series of concerts in 2008 with bills made up of Spunk artists. The first of these shows will be SPUNK ROCK! at the historic A & I Hall in Bangalow on January 21st. Holly, in special duo mode, will play alongside Spoon, Andrew Bird, Jens Lekman, Jack Ladder and a very special international guest.
It was very good to open for The Frames on their recent sideshows here in Sydney (sideshows from their big shows, which were at giant stadiums in support of Bob Dylan). At the Frames show in Sydney, Holly joined Glen Hansard and the band onstage during the encore to sing a cover of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's 'New Partner'. It was quite special.
To celebrate the release of Holly's new EP, we are pleased to announce the One Of You For Me Spring Tour. Holly and her band will be performing a limited number of shows, mainly along the east coast, in September. Support will come from the USA's Stephanie Dosen. Stephanie has recently released the beautiful A Lily for a Spectre album on Bella Union. Simon Raymonde, of the Cocteau Twins, produced the record and will be accompanying Stephanie on various instruments during the tour. Dates are now up on the shows page. Tickets go on sale this Monday, August 13th These will be the last headline shows that Holly will perform this year before she departs for Nashville in October to make her third album.
Holly's new EP, One of You for Me, will be available in stores tomorrow. Next to the title song, the EP includes a living room demo; two sparse covers of songs by Will Oldham and Brian Eno; and two live tracks - including a beautiful version of 'Things Between People' - that were recorded earlier this year at a tiny dinner venue south of Sydney. In the Brian Eno song, Sarah Blasko sings along. A full tracklisting is here.
Holly's new single 'One of You for Me' (from the forthcoming EP of the same name) is now up on myspace to be listened to. It was written a few months ago on a small Casio keyboard. And it was recorded with Holly’s long-time band (Bree van Reyk on drums and Jens Birchall on double bass) in the Kangaroo Valley at the new home of producer Tony Dupè. Holly played an ancient organ, an odd horn section was roused for the chorus, and Bree percussed on old beer bottles and glassware. It is, surprisingly, quite buoyant. We hope you like it.
It has just been announced that Holly will be joining the line-up for Splendour in the Grass this August. Artists playing this year include Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, The Shins, The Dirty Three, Lily Allen, Damien Rice, Paul Kelly, Powderfinger, Sarah Blasko and many more.
On April 18th and 19th, Holly was the last of a string of special guests to join Sarah Blasko onstage during Sarah's recent theatre tour. (Other guests in various cities included Robert Forster of The Go-Betweens, Glenn Richards of Augie March, Tim Rogers of You Am I, and Mr Darren Hanlon.) At the Seymour Centre in Sydney, Holly and Sarah sang three songs together, including a spooky version of 'Eleanor Rigby'. With this, and after three long Australian tours for Under the Town, it is now time for a small rest. Holly has been writing songs for a new record and making demos in the living room. Travel plans may follow shortly.
In news from the distant world of television, Holly will be attempting to answer music trivia questions on the ABC's "Spicks and Specks" this Wednesday night at 8.30pm. On the opposing team will be the wonderful conductor, Richard Gill.
Holly will be opening for Augie March in Sydney on March 17 at the Metro and on two nights the following week at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne.
Holly has recently contributed a t-shirt design for the wonderful Montreal based Yellow Bird Project. Other artists who have contributed designs include Devendra Banhart, Hayden, Rilo Kiley and Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah. All profits from Holly's shirt will go to Amnesty International. So please buy one. Under the Town is now available in the UK & Europe on Woo Me! Records via Southern Records distribution. You can read a review just in by the UK's Drowned in Sound here.
Holly will be opening for Joanna Newsom and Bill Callahan at the Hopetoun Alpha in Auckland next Monday the 12th, followed by a solo show on the 14th at the Wine Cellar, Auckland. This is her very first trip to New Zealand. In other news, the Mountains in the Sky remix of 'Under the Town' is now available for listen and download on Holly's myspace page.
Happy 200th release to Spunk Records! To celebrate this milestone, an amazing concert was held last night at NIDA's Parade Theatre in Sydney featuring Joanna Newsom, Bill Callahan and Andrew Bird. Holly opened the evening with a short set of songs, including a duet with the lovely Sarah Blasko. For those who received a free Spunk sampler at the show, the remix of 'Under the Town' contained on that CD is by Melbourne's Mountains in the Sky.
Under The Town has received a four star review in Mojo magazine. Read some here.
We are very excited to announce
dates for an Australian Summer
Tour.
For those who missed it on Monday night, Triple J are repeating highlights from Holly's 'Live At The Wireless' set tomorrow, Sunday the 19th, from 5pm. The show was recorded at Melbourne's Northcote Social Club in September with Bree van Reyk on drums, accordion and glockenspiel and Jens Birchall on cello, double bass and mandolin. Since the Under the Town tour, Holly has been taking some time to write and travel. Most recently she has been riding in the Darren Hanlon tour bus, joining Darren and the delightful Dear Nora on stage at various shows down the east coast, all the way to Victoria. Much fun has been had by all.
For those who missed out on a ticket for the sold-out Basement show last Friday night, Holly and her band will be playing a second Sydney show at @Newtown on October 7th. Special guests will be announced shortly. In other exiting news, Holly has been nominated in the Best Female Artist category at this year's ARIA Awards. Other nominees include Kasey Chambers, Jade MacRae, Jen Cloher and Clare Bowditch. The big event will be held on October 29th. The next leg of the Under the Town tour begins in Victoria tomorrow night. Come say hello at the merch desk where Holly will be selling her first ever hand-drawn comic book. Hand-drawn, hand-photocopied, hand-stapled, hand-numbered. It took forever.
Dates for the Under the Town Australian Spring Tour are now up on the shows page. It is a great honour to announce that special guests will include Ollie Browne (Art of Fighting), Ned Collette, Ambitious Lovers, J Walker (Machine Translations) and Mick Turner (Dirty Three) Holly has just finished touring in the US with David Pajo. An article from The New York Sun is now up on the press page, as well as more Australian reviews for Under the Town.
Holly's second album, Under the Town, is out now in all good record shops via our friends at Spunk Records. Some early reviews have been posted. You can read them via the press page.
There are some new photographs up on the pictures page. Some of them were taken during the recording of Under the Town. Others were taken on tour in various places around Australia and outside in the world. In other news, Holly will be opening for Low (USA) this Thursday, June 1st, at The Annandale.
The first single from Under the Town is called "Making A Fire". To celebrate its release, Holly will be doing a small national tour in June. She will be bringing bandmates to most cities to play along on various instruments, including Jens Birchall on cello and Bree van Reyk on the drums. Dates are now up on the shows page. Under the Town will be released on July 15th by the good people at Spunk Records.
For those of you in London, Holly will be playing an instore at the Rough Trade shop in Covent Garden this Sunday, April 16th, at 2pm.
Two more European dates have been added to the shows page. Both are in Sweden with Micah P. Hinson and Willard Grant Conspiracy, plus Mark Eitzel in Lund.
Holly will be touring next month in the UK, Ireland and Europe with Micah P. Hinson. Dates are up on the shows page. Check out the current issue of Rolling Stone for a preview of the recording sessions for the new album. Holly is tracking with producer Tony Dupe at his house on Saddleback Mountain in NSW. The album, which will be released mid-year, features Jens Birchall on cello, fellow Spunk! Records label-mate Jack Ladder on bass and Bree van Reyk on the drums.
For those in Melbourne, a new exhibition called 'Take This Record' is opening this weekend at St Jeromes. The exhibition, by Melbourne photographer Warwick Baker, features a spooky photograph of Holly along with portraits of Australian musicians including Sarah Blasko, New Buffalo, Grand Salvo and Mick Turner (Dirty Three). "Take This Record", 6 Caledonian Lane Melbourne, March 12th-April 1st.
Some current UK press for On Night has been added to the album reviews page. You can read friendly reviews from Mojo, Uncut, Drownded in Sound, and Plan B.
Holly will be playing the St Jerome's Laneway Festival on February 26th in Melbourne. The line up includes Broken Social Scene, The Avalanches, Les Savy Fav, Pretty Girls Make Graves, New Buffalo, Augie March and Mountains in the Sky. Then, a few weeks after on February 19th, Holly will open again for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy at @ Newtown in Sydney.
The first 1000 copies of the Nov/Dec issue of Mess & Noise magazine comes with a free CD compilation of demos and rarities from Australian acts including My Disco, The Devastations, Minimum Chips and Princess One Point Five. Holly contributed a demo of a song called 'What Becomes of Us', which will be on the next album. The demo was recorded in a snowy Canadian cottage last year by Hayden.
On Night has been awarded Rough Trade shops' Album of the Week this week in the UK. Other artists to receive the honour this year include Smog, Low, The Arcade Fire and Boards of Canada.
Holly will be opening for Joanna Newsom and Smog at the Globe in Brisbane on October 6th. Details are on the shows page.
There was other news before this too but we deleted it because otherwise the page just went down for too long. |