More than most artists on the witch house scene, Holy Other has managed to maintain an air of mystery around his persona. Currently based in Manchester, the artist has also claimed Berlin and Gothenburg as his residences since he’s started producing less than two years ago. The lack of consistent home base comes across in Holy Other’s music, which is filled with a kind of melancholy, searching tone. Sonically Holy Other’s sound could somewhat be described as taking the bleak moodiness of Burial away from dubstep and towards the slow rhythms and tempos inherent in drag.
Holy Other’s atmospheric compositions speaks of the artist’s desire to reveal his emotions through music: “I’m not noticing a gap in contemporary music and saying “there’s the space I want to occupy”. It’s no hyper-pragmatic approach to creating the sound, and I don’t feel like I’m making some huge artistic contribution. It’s more the challenge of simply trying to create something truly personal.” (Interview w/ FACT magazine). It makes sense then that he is instinctively drawn towards slow, luscious tempos that give him the space he needs to slowly build up airy, charged atmospheres. Also characteristic is Holy Other’s avoidance of the static and vinyl hiss that is currently so popular in his genre. Whether a result of his pared-down production set-up, or an influence from his time spent in Berlin soaking up the city’s clean, minimal techno, the artist prefers to achieve the lo-fi sound through his compositional style.
Debuting with a limited edition 7” ("We over", Transparent, 2010), Holy Other has since been picked up by US label Tri Angle, where he released his first EP "With U" (2011) to great acclaim. Very conscientious of the experience he creates through his music, Holy Other has made a point of avoiding laptop performances, instead painstakingly packing up his studio - sequencers and samplers – for every new gig. His performances straddle the fine line between dedicated listening experience and dance music.
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› CTM.12 › BERGHAIN
