The beginning of Time is Forever, the new EP from Holly Macve, feels like the start of a haunting. As her spectral vocals take hold on ‘Beauty Queen’, it’s hard not to fall under a kind of mysticism. The track’s reflection on the past and bid for strength in both the past and present is gripping against soft, easy strumming – a pattern that will continue throughout.
That ethereal quality doesn’t wane; ‘Dreamer’ is all hazy piano and undoubtedly heaven-sent vocals. Holly’s lyricism gorgeously lays out a scene with the tone of someone wistfully looking back with the knowledge that they cannot return there – it freezes these moments in time and gives you all the space you need to examine them.
To listen to Holly’s music is to fall into a trance. It’s entering into a spatial world with Holly’s voice as your guide, navigating this delicate, sepia-toned world with the soft counsel she offers. The piano-led, stripped-back sonics of ‘Suburban House’ sees her enlist Lana Del Rey in a collaboration that can only be cosmic – their voices find gentle, angelic harmonies that intensify that surreal quality to Holly’s sound. The track’s lesson of acceptance and moving forwards is buoyed by that misty-eyed state of being.
Time is Forever spends a lot of time in pensive thought – Holly Macve carefully considers the roads that have led her here. However, by the conclusion of ‘1995’, there is a resounding sense of a turning of the page. The perspective shifts and whatever lays next is in her sights, drawing the EP to a close with a sense of hopefulness that lingers in your chest long after the final notes.
Haiku Review:
Time is forever,
And Holly’s voice is a dream
Fall under her spell
‘Time is Forever’ is out now and available for direct purchase on Holly’s Bandcamp page. Holly will be performing as a selected showcase artist at this year’s SXSW, with a show at St. David’s Historic Sanctuary on 15th March.
