DAVID HOLMES
The Holy Pictures
(Mercury/Universal)
6/10
David Holmes has made a name for himself as of late for doing the soundtracks to the ‘Oceans 11/12/13’ films, but ‘The Holy Pictures’ is the first solo album from the Irish DJ for quite some time. The album surprisingly has less of an electro DJ feel and sounds more like it is being played by an actual band, with Holmes even lending his own vocals for the first time. The album is a mixture of atmospheric instrumental soundscapes and new wave electro-pop. The title track and first single ‘I Heard Wonders’ showcase Holmes’ breathy vocals and pop hooks, while ‘Kill Her with Kindness’, ‘Melanie’ and ‘Hey Maggy’ are simplistic and meditative instrumentals. Holmes intended for the record to be about life in Belfast – family, friends, love and loss. It’s supposed to be an intensely personal album, dedicated to his deceased parents, but overall, ends up being a little bit anticlimactic. For something intended to be so personal, it seems Holmes kind of misses the mark. While everything sounds nice, ‘The Holy Pictures’ isn’t a cohesive story. As individual songs, most are fantastic, but they don’t necessarily evoke the emotion of the story he is trying to portray (Bianca Martin).
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