Holy Fuck’s band name lends itself to an easy enthusiastic review. Sort of like the film Kick-Ass, it’s a fine line that must be walked so that the reviewer doesn’t just rest on the not-so-clever play on words that is offered. But that aside, Holy Fuck is completely worthy of their title. The new album, Latin, is explosive and perfected.
On the opening track (aptly titled “One), the build is so slow and patient one begins to wonder if a song will ever arrive. And it almost doesn’t — the build is not about some Baba O’Reilly emergence through the cacophony. It is a pre-amble. It prepares you, saying, “Sit back, relax, the journey is just beginning.” The listener is then assaulted by the full on rock of “Red Lights” and “Latin America.” Each of those tracks could stand as a preview of coming attractions. The songs weave and make their way on a sonic rock soundscape, never asserting that they are the one, that they are the single.
Related Posts
When it comes to making pop hits, Holy Fuck could give a shit. Instead, this is an album of musicians who seem to love music for, well, just being music. They are interested in exploring what is obviously a steady creative relationship between the musician and the instrument. If one stands highest here, the drums are king. They control the songs, moving the ever important beat and level along. They decide where each track will go and when it will lay back, or when it will rise and come crashing through the speakers.
For an album that is almost exclusively instrumental, you would be remiss to pass this up. This is not challenging music — it asks nothing of its listener. Just open your ears, and you will be drawn in.
There is no denying that Holy Fuck is comfortable with exactly who they are. Their aspirations lie in exploring the concepts they have cemented. Oftentimes, that is when you find musicians at their peak — when you can hear the thrill of creation in each clang, clatter, strum, and bang. I cannot recommend this album highly enough. For lack of a better descriptor, this is pure quality.
(XL Recordings, 304 Hudson Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10013)