Back in 2021, Brooklyn-based composer, producer, vocalist, and clarinetist Holland Andrews released Wordless, the first of a series of EPs under their own name (having previously recorded as Like A Villain). Released with label LEITER, the record introduced a distinctively transportive sound. Led by voice and clarinet and processed through a variety of electronics, the compositions offered soundscapes in which the listener might lose themselves. Rich tapestries of colour and texture crafted with an almost cinematic attention to detail. Subsequent EPs Forgettings and Doubtless furthered the scope and intention of the style, exploring themes of healing and transcendence as Andrews’s genre-bending sensibilities solidified into a style of their own.
Now Holland Andrews has returned with Answers, the fourth and final EP of the series which feels like both the clearest realisation of their creative ideals and a continued, active resistance against genre conventions. “Where do I belong?” as Andrews asks. “That’s tricky for me. I have this voracious quality of just wanting to keep playing and keep exploring.” Latest single ‘Why’ highlights how intuitive this experimentation proves to be, offering a seamless tapestry of voice, texture and beats which wraps around the listener and invites them to explore the intricacies of its shimmering, ambiguous surfaces.
Answers is out now via LEITER and available from the Holland Andrews Bandcamp page. There’s also a physical double release of Answers and previous EP Doubtless out too, so be sure to check that out.
Photo by Ariel Crocker