THE SPIRITS OF STARLIGHT

Wow, I will start this straightly as the visual splendor is immediately delivered at the first sight. I am holding in my hands a true piece of art, a glossy 6-panel disc eco wallet with magnificent cover image and design by the artist himself. As I said once, Hollan Holmes is living his dream and his newest album, his 4th, "The Spirits Of Starlight", released on his own at the beginning of July 2014, is another huge proof of that. Not to forget, kindred Texan spirit Chad Kettering of Soniclayers Mastering adds his skills as well.

"Impulse" fires the show right away with vigorously pulsing portion of sequences, with delicious cyber distortion thrown in making from this swirling passage a truly blissful listening experience. Choir-like drones join the journey and glide across with utterly infinite grace. A 7-minute jaw-dropping impulse for unlocking the gates of Ambient Hall of Fame, welcome to your sonic paradise!!! "Constant Velocity", as displayed by its title, keeps the speed more than precisely with exquisitely merged sharply hitting and whirling rhythms and expansive star gazing layers. Diligent dub techno fragrances constantly permeate, oscillate, ear-tickle and hypnotize the listener. This is another example of highly refined mastery of Hollan Holmes, bravo!!! "An Uninvited Guest" briskly awakes Berlin EM school memories with quietly pulsing crystalline sequencer lines. Slenderly dramatic passageways masterfully interplay with mildly evocative horizons. The overall flow of this composition is absolutely gorgeous, a virtuoso souldsculpting securely continues. "Enduro" unfolds with immensely gracious washes, but soon fresh pulsations steal the center trajectory. Mesmerizingly insistent helical cyberscapes tranquilly alternate with balmier surroundings. Amazing, four tracks are over, each one sounds not only quite different, but also as a true top-notcher and on the top of that, there is exceptional harmoniousness and complexity between all of them. And of course always strongly connected to the featured theme. An all-inclusive virtuoso performance so far!!! "Pale Blue Dot" attracts with continuously circling vintage sequences and chilled space drifts, hovering on the wings of eternal elegance and spirit. The next composition, "Scattered Across The Heavens", reveals with its grandiosely expansive and massive washes the deepest ends of cosmic paradise. Majestic, infinite and mesmeric!!! My body and soul is totally immersed in ultimate sonic blissfulness, I am short of words... But the odyssey proceeds with "The Departure", an ethereal reverie bridging sublimely soothing and effortlessly gliding blankets with guarding angelic choirs. The title track, "The Spirits Of Starlight" mingles large dose of lushly shimmering and sparkling sequences with meandering catchy cinematic melodies. Water percolates the sand, gentle sea breeze sweeps over, nocturnal magic happens here... "The Eternal Cosmos" closes this truly spectacular journey with gracefully drifting and winding space symphony, filled with intangible magnificence. By the way, as far I remember, the first working title for this album was "The Eternal Cosmos", but later the name was changed. But anyway, we have here a perfect closer!!!

The conclusion of this review is simple, "The Spirits Of Starlight" must be titled as a magnum opus by Hollan Holmes, and I am penning this down with the fact in my mind that he has released previously three truly phenomenal albums. Hollan Holmes is constantly virtuosic, both musically and visually. Releases like this one constantly remind me why I am a huge collector and connoisseur of ambient soundscaping. "The Spirits Of Starlight" is a very strong competitor for The Best of 2014 release, that's for sure!!! I also would like to add, if I can, a little story from Hollan Holmes' interview for Bert Strolenberg's Sonic Immersion website dedicated to electronic music (highly recommended source!!!). In this interview Hollan has mentioned how he first met with Steve Roach, it was in 1990 when he was working as a baggage handler for an airline. One day he was loading the luggage onto the plane for a Tuscon flight, when he noticed crates of musical gear with Steve Roach's name on them. So Hollan immediately ran up to the jet bridge, begged a flight attendant for a pen and asked Steve for his autograph. I like so much this story!!! So don't let your dreams fade away, follow them and fulfill them!!! Since the beginning of 2011 Hollan Holmes is starring in the same league as the Master. It's well-deserved, deep respect to you, Hollan!!!

Richard Gürtler (Aug 17, 2014, Bratislava, Slovakia)

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