Album Review: Unloved- Guilty Of Love

One of the greatest musical talents to emerge from Ireland over the past 20 years, David Holmes has enjoyed a remarkable parallel career as Hollywood composer and cutting edge dance producer. His CV includes working on a series of hit films by one of America’s foremost directors, Steven Soderbergh, while of late, Holmer has been busy working on the score of TV series The Fall, the superb Belfast crime drama starring Gillian Anderson.

The Belfast DJ’s work in film and TV definitely informs his latest project, The Unloved, which was born in Los Angeles club night The Rotary Room, where in recent years Holmes has been DJing between acts, usually improvised outfits drawn from the ranks of the city’s finest musicians. The duo who founded the night are Keefus Ciancia, a regular T-Bone Burnett collaborator who worked on the score to True Detective, and songwriter/vocalist Jade Vincent, best known as the spearhead of LA collective the Jade Vincent Experiment.

Like Holmes, Ciancia and Vincent are devotees of classic film soundtracks and ’60s girl groups, and the trio have decided to explore their love of those styles on Guilty Of Love. The resulting album is a beautifully crafted collection of atmospheric sounds that ranks among Holmes’ best work to date.

The record kicks off the with the title track, which skilfully integrates Morricone-style vintage grooves, a Nancy Sinatra-esque vocal from Vincent and gorgeous harmonies. You could easily imagine it fitting on the soundtrack of a Tarantino movie. Vincent again invokes Nancy on ‘After Dinner’, which boasts Wall of Sound production in the classic Phil Spector style. There are also some deft lyrical manoeuvres, with Vincent singing – in a chanteuse style reminiscent of Lana Del Rey – “My mother told me, don’t talk to strangers/ But what if I can’t talk to anyone?”

‘Damned’ recalls Sonic Youth’s Shangri-Las tribute ‘Little Trouble Girl’, which featured memorable vocal interplay between the two legendary Kims of US alt.rock, Gordon and Deal. Unloved’s effort is no less impressive, with Vincent plaintively singing, “You don’t know/ I’m the one you dream of/ The thought that lingers just so.” Featuring hazy ambience, layered over a Motown rhythm, the track plays like a classic soul record filtered through a shoegaze sensibility.

Elsewhere, the jazzy groove and backwards vocals of ‘Cry Baby Cry’ are straight from the David Lynch playbook (and none the worse for it), ‘When A Woman Is Around’ is driven by an irresistible ’60-style dance groove, and ‘The Ground’ mixes avant electronica and ethereal vocals in a manner reminiscent of Death In Vegas’ classic ‘Girls’.

One of the standout tracks is ‘Xpectations’, which alternates between psychedelia and noir-ish ambience, and culminates in a surging art-pop workout. Another highlight is ‘Silvery Moon’, which starts out as an lowkey synth piece worthy of Aphex Twin or Brian Eno, before morphing into exquisite dream-pop. The band sign off with ‘Forever Unloved’, which underpins swirling strings with ringing guitar and moody bass. Two decades down the line, David Holmes’ odyssey remains as compelling as ever. He is a very special talent indeed.

8/10