THE HOLY FAMILY - The Holy Family

A surreal odyssey toward unknown dimensions, the self-titled debut album by England's Holy Family unfolds across thirteen tracks brimming with intrigue and twists and turns, a fearless journey through psychedelia, kraut-rock, progressive and assorted experimentation, drawing on the polyrhythmic canons of This Heat, passing through cosmic couriers and the allegorical strongholds of Robert Wyatt, and arriving at the expansiveness deployed by Talk Talk in their second act, as well as the spy-story feel of Lalo Schifrin's soundtracks. All these stylistic excursions are bound together with relentless logic, fused into a single kaleidoscopic vision, in search of a wider universal truth.

David J. Smith (Stargazer's Assistant and Guapo) is the chief architect of this flamboyant hall of mirrors. The project's aesthetic took shape from bold improvisations, later refined during recording sessions involving Smith himself and all his cohorts: Kavus Torabi (Gong, Moonsoon Bassoon), Michael J. York (Coil), Emmett Elvin, Sam Warren and engineer/mixer Antti Uuismaki. The record's lyrical and aesthetic inspiration draws both on the magical realism of Angela Carter (whose notorious 1991 short film also lent its name to the band and the album) and on the surrealist art of American poet, painter and writer Dorothea Tanning.

Musically, no inhibitions were placed on the arrangements, as shown by the impressionistic opener "I Have Seen The Lion Walking", a perfect testament to the state of metaphysical trance that shapes the entire tracklist.

The most unsettling cadences gather momentum in "Skulls The….", from which peeks out the Eno of the "Another Green World" era. The winding path includes passages of intense drama, feeding into a narrative arc full of twists: from the tribal depths of "Inner Edge Of Outer Mind" to the more magnetic ones of "See, Hear, Smell, Taste", moving on to the glorious hypno-groove of "A New Euphoria" and the darker sound of "St. Anthony's Fire".

The two-part instrumental “Chasm” carves out the album's pivotal moment with sensational, rarefied textures that put a personal spin on historic touchstones such as the zeuhl of Magma, the dreamlike religiosity of Popol Vuh and the alien esotericism of Third Ear Band.

Mystical and charged with primordial energy, “The Holy Family” is the classic release for anyone who loves chimerical experiments that shift shape and structure, the kind that reveal infinite new and unexpected presences with every listen. Climb aboard, you won't want to be left behind.

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02/08/2021