Somewhere between the vocal stylings of Marc Bolan and Elliott Smith, Jason Williams’ voice is a hypnotic and understated element of Animal Holograms, a Chicago-based trio with a dreamily loose sound that blends shoegaze and dream-pop. What started as a solo project of Williams’ evolved into a trio consisting of Nick Biscardi and Jesse Askren. Now, Animal Holograms have their debut full-length – í sólina – slated for a May release. Judging by already-released tracks like “lengi nætur”, listeners could be in for something special.
Starting with a progression that resembles both spacious post-rock and spaghetti-western nonchalance, “lengi nætur” immediately shows Animal Holograms’ knack for atmosphere. Williams’ ghostly croon creeps in over the passive percussion and murmuring guitars, while an organ emerges as a bridge to a successfully clanky hook that is capped off by an elongated guitar solo. Much of the lyrics throughout the track are obscured somewhat by the gently involved production, which surely takes a cue from shoegaze. The actual instrumentation is more in the vein of post-punk and alternative, with a touch of glam-rock’s moodier bits. “lengi nætur” is a great entry for listeners, as are tracks like “halló dökk mín” below:
Saw these guys last night at Beat Kitchen. The singer reminds me of Elliott Smith and Jesse Lacey, quiet and reserved at all the right times, loud and uninhibited the next. They have a care-free, grunge style which definitely appealed to me. They obviously care about what they’re doing up there cause the show was incredible, but I got the feeling they were doing exactly what they’d do in an empty room or a sold out room. Definitely looking forward to seeing Animal Holograms again. A unique and entertaining experience, a breath of fresh air from all the overplayed trends for sure. Those guys are onto something special and I’m looking forward to watching this band grow.
Just got into this band a few months ago and its pretty crazy how different they sound now compared to the songs included in this article. Not into every single song, but I’m impressed with the majority of their music old and new and have a lot of respect for bands like this who take risks with every album (in this band’s case, close to every song) and go in a completely opposite direction.