“Congrats” by Holy Fuck
Holy Fuck has been absent from music since 2010. Their last album, Latin, featured a strange but enticing mix of live instrumentation with electronic sounds. Their goal has always been to create electronic music without using traditional electronic techniques such as looping. A notable trend across their discography has been an increase in polish. They aren’t as noisy or eclectic as they once were, while still maintaining their ability to create the raw, emotive electro-pop music that they’ve become known for.
One change in Congrats is the use of vocals that add a completely new layer to their work. Sometimes muddy and distant, and sometimes close and pretty. It almost feels as though a lot of their old discography was absent of a key piece they’ve just discovered (not to diminish their old works at all). Holy Fuck comes across as completely reanimated after their six-year hiatus. Lead single “Tom Tom” is a great example of this. It features a droning drum and bass opener that crawls through flashes of heavily distorted guitars and vocals only to arrive at a loud, beautiful climax that they rip off immediately only to tease back in.
They’ve proven throughout Congrats that they don’t need to rely on distortion and noise to create interesting art. They groove hard when they want to, and the bass work is excellent throughout. What they’ve done is refine what they are already great at, and bring in new dimensions with their voices. »
– Tyler Sanford
