Holy Holy manifested something when they gave themselves that reverent name back in 2011. Since then, Oscar Dawson and Tim Carroll have created their own sound: a combination of indie pop, art rock and bittersweet lyrics that just hit different. ‘all I want is to hold a little piece of history between my teeth” (History, 2011). Liam Gallagher heard their devastating truth when he went to a show in 2019, calling them his favourite new band. The Mad Mancunian tweeted the lyrics to Sentimental and Monday to his 3 million followers. ‘Darkness is nothing but a lack of light as you were LG x’ Earlier, the production whiz/multi-instrumentalist Dawson met singer/fellow polymath Carroll as volunteer teachers living out of backpacks in Southeast Asia. Later, they looked each other up in Europe where Carroll was trying to get a break in Sweden and Dawson was riding the buzz of his then-band Dukes of Windsor. This party of two soon began with debut album When The Storms Would Come in 2014 - all Knopfler and Young guitars with Oberst and Springsteen sighs through a unique Stockholm (Carroll) meets Melbourne (Dawson) lens. Paint (2017) had a robust confidence to it (That Message, Shadow) and contained a proper hit True Lovers (50 million + streams across DSPs). My Own Pool of Light (2019) showed off ecstatic, Gorillaz-influenced pop (Faces), devastating paeans to mortality (Teach Me About Dying) and more of those lyrics that pull you down while boosting you up; ‘I woke up in a room on fire flames were licking at the foot of my bed smoke and light dancing on my ceiling closed my eyes and then I slept.’ (Maybe You Know). Holy Holy extended their range on Hello My Beautiful World (2021), grabbing hotly tipped collaborators and sticking the landing with CLEWS (The Aftergone) and searing rapper Queen P (Port Rd). Their latest work with Sydney-based rapper and producer Kwame on Messed Up shows a band who are happy to wrong-foot listeners; much like their forebears, Radiohead. Messed Up sounds like Rufus re-doing Vangelis’ original Bladerunner soundtrack, drum’n’bass style. Chaos. Off the back of the 19 bangers added to the national youth broadcaster, devoted fans have helped Holy Holy achieve one Double Platinum and four Gold singles. Remember, fan comes from “fanatic”; Holy Holy fans feel like they’re in church when they see them live. All of this bodes well for their fifth album which will feature Messed Up as well as collaborations with an iconic Australian dance music duo and an edgy, hyped Swedish singer. Intrigued? Just you wait.