Holland Andrews - Wordless, Forgettings, Doubtless, Answers

A Closer Listen

Holland Andrews has released four EPs over the last three years, a quartet that deserves to be heard as a whole.  Each pair is available on vinyl, and together they may be viewed as an album, yielding a defined trajectory with a sense of completeness.  Placing the titles end-to-end, one may glean the arc of the tale: Wordless, Forgettings, Doubtless, Answers.

Less apparent from the eye alone is that Andrews is a multi-faceted performer, whose compositions range from ambient to electronic, all with an experimental sheen; and that instrumental tracks are balanced by samplings of the artist’s expressive voice.  The vocal pieces shape the stages of the journey, while the instrumental pieces provide emotional context.

Wordless is not wordless, but it starts off that way.  The EP begins in pure ambient bliss, drawing comparison to the beginning of time, when the earth was formless and desolate: material seeking form, thought seeking voice.  The late minutes of “Gloss” delve into modern composition, matter transmuting, one genre becoming another; we learn that the artist was formerly known as Like a Villain, and is also in the process of transformation.  When words do appear, they draw upon the power of the initial utterance: let there be light.  The transition to the title track occurs without a ripple.  The clarinet carries the hopes of the listener beyond the sunrise.  Andrews’ voice soars toward the stratosphere.  As the artist intones, I move forward into strangeness, into new life on “Passage,” the voice is transformed, electronically processed, echoing over repetitions of a turn signal.  Andrews is in the process of becoming something else, and so is the music.

Each subsequent EP deepens the understanding of the ones before.  A full year will unfold before the release of Forgettings, but already in the first notes a synthetic sparkling is heard.  “Transform Forever” is a joyous expression of finding, an encouragement that change need not be feared.  You know who you are, Andrews repeats, a soothing expression that carries over into the title track.  Again, the transition between the first and second pieces is seamless.  The sentence stutters, loops and fractures, joining fragments of chimes, as if the words themselves are slices of light.

A sun shower eventually drenches the music, which re-emerges like new shoots.  “Green” is aptly named, a blossoming of confidence.  Be patient, and hold on.  The advice holds court against a bright drone, along with a curious phrase: “in perfect failure, I cherish it all.”  This left turn speaks directly to the heart of human experience; progress is seldom linear, and typically includes stops and starts.  The piano of “Far Place” implies that the far place is not so far after all.

Fans had only scant months to wait for Doubtless, which possesses a slightly more mournful tone, borne on “Surrender” and “Grief.”  The path I walk to be free is right in front of me; I’ll just surrender.  The music swirls, stops and relaunches.  Suddenly the timbre is louder and thicker than it has been to date; Andrews continues to grow and surprise.  “Grief” enters into the maelstrom, then pulls back; LEITER owner Nils Frahm joins Andrews on “Rules,” whose percussion forms a bridge to “Grief.”  The title track conflates beauty and loss:  Will you stay awake for the meteor shower?  It starts in an hour.  Will you be with me when they all come crashing down?  Give me your legacy of doubt.  The “me” becomes an “us.”  Andrews’ voice forms a choir, an enticement, a comfort.

The final words of Doubtless are “I know nothing at all; we know nothing.”  For two years, the uncertainty hangs in the ether.  Finally Answers is being unveiled, completing the quartet.  The scintillating “Wonder” folds into a bank of organ tones, implying a spiritual link.  The title of “Why,” sans question mark, suggests the response, “this is why.”  Leaving the specifics open, Andrews allows the beat to slow to a crawl, opening the door for the music’s final push, which arrives in the title track.  “Answers” contains both the clearest segment of clarinet and the densest electronics, which rise to a pair of peaks; while the answers need not be words, the response ~ “say yes” ~ is crucial.  As the artist reaches “A Clearing,” the music completes its circle back to the ambient opening track of Wordless, cementing our view of the quartet as an album.

Now that the story is complete, every chapter makes sense.  Mutable genres become part of a whole, underlining Andrews’ emphasis on transformation.  You know who you are, the artist is saying.  Be patient and hold on.  The path is right in front of you.  Say yes.  (Richard Allen)