Holy Fuck - Congrats


Holy Fuck
Congrats
2016
Spotify

When Holy Fuck popped up in the electronic scene they were a direct reaction to what they saw as a homogenization of the genre. They would make dance music, but it would not be what you expected. The instruments would be different, the sounds would be off they might even bring in elements from punk rock, it simply didn't matter their boundaries were only self imposed. The problem with pushing the envelope however is that it is very, very hard. It took almost six years for this record Congrats to come out as a follow up to Latin. The world is a very different place than it was in 2010, and a sound that used to be wholly attributed to Holy Fuck has been taken up and bolstered by others. So Congrats arrives not as a reaction but more of a push to again find Holy Fuck's place in the world. ON the record however they prove their certainly is still room for their sound and that they can still push their borders. 'Shivering" is the first real shinning example of where the band are at now. It builds and falls off, the briefest flashes of guitar and violin streak into existence and the vocals echo and fade like your worst fears of falling into a worm hole. The release on the track is simply magical blowing the entire thing up in one push of music that is all encompassing. However they don't limit themselves to just being experimental or weird for weirds sake as other artists do, they still have a strong sense of the melodic and the connected.

"Neon Dad" has this bounce given almost entirely by an electric guitar and drums that works so well as a pure pop song. "House of Glass" shines almost like a neon dream or some kind of play on electropop, but Holy Fuck maintain a distance from any genre where they can appreciate and borrow, but never fully engross themselves in it. At the soul of it all however Congrats is all about rhythm. That is the beginning and end point of each track, how can we take a really good dance rhythm and move it, shape it into something new. That is why even when they get experimental and bring the 8-bit tones on "Sabbatics" you are still in, because that rhythm still has you swaying and dancing along. There is a whole hell of a lot to like about this record and although it may not be as groundbreaking as their first, Congrats still has a place all it's own. "Acidic" is the real club bumper on the album and it keeps up this constant pace that never for a moment leaves the album. By the time you reach the end you look up and realized just how quickly these songs came, but just how lasting some of them feel. A truly surprising and fun record that you should not miss.

8.0 out of 10

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