This is a pretty basic fact: Upstart record label Sharptone Records is killing the game right now. Not simply a one-dimensional label signing veteran metalcore and post-hardcore bands (We Came As Romans, Attila, Miss May I), in the label’s 11 month (!!!) foundation, they’ve also signed hungry acts like Currents, Widowmaker, and Cardiff’s Holding Absence. The latter is gaining some seriously crazy accolades and opportunities despite not even having a proper full-length or EP out, but the band, who play a distilled amalgamation of post-hardcore, post-rock, and ambient. Not that the description I just gave is necessarily reflecting of future material from the band – the band’s recent interview w/Dead Press Zine seems to reveal otherwise.
DP!: Would you say the two songs indicate the spectrum of the Holding Absence sound?
J: Absolutely not. Over the next few months and even years, the spectrum is going to get wider and wider. We have a very varied taste in music within the band; one minute we’ll be listening to Nails, the next minute Radiohead, the next minute The 1975. We also love the idea of experimentation within music. We’d love to work with an array of different producers, we’d love to pick up new instruments, and we’d love to try and break any genre confinements.
No matter what direction the band heads in stylistically, though, one thing is for sure – Holding Absence appears to follow in the footsteps of their peers in Landscapes and Casey in creating passionate, emotionally vulnerable music that stirs the soul – and in Holding Absence’s case, straying from the genre conventions you’re used to. If nothing else, they’re clearly a band that’s driven to make their mark, despite being around less than a year.
– This Is Holding Absence.
