Sweet Bitter Sweet Holy Holy

• 1 Sweet Bitter Sweet 04:09
• 2 Love You Still 03:56
• 3 We Think 04:27
• 4 Island 03:19
• 5 So Be It 04:11
• 6 Maybe You Know (Acoustic) 03:47
• 7 Teach Me About Dying (Acoustic) 04:14
• 8 Ready (Acoustic) 04:36
• 9 Elevator (Acoustic) 04:37
• 10 The Aftergone (Orchestral Version) 04:45
• 11 Believe Anything (Orchestral Version) 04:39
• 12 Ghosts (Orchestral Version) 04:50
• Total Runtime 51:30

Info for Sweet Bitter Sweet

One of Australia’s best loved and most critically acclaimed bands, Holy Holy, today announce the release of their final new music before they go on an indefinite hiatus.

‘Sweet Bitter Sweet’ is a special double EP split into two unique sections – five brand new songs + seven reimagined versions of some of the band’s most beloved tracks from across their 14 year career. The double EP will be released Friday 9 May, with the first single Love You Still out now!

After making the decision to take a break, Holy Holy – aka vocalist Timothy Carroll and guitarist/producer Oscar Dawson – spent some time together writing and recording in studios on the Mornington Peninsula and Byron Bay over the past six months. As always, they hit a rich vein of creativity and, unsurprisingly, a theme of saying farewell emerged from their new music.

“Initially, we had planned to record acoustic versions of some of our favourite songs from Holy Holy,” says Carroll. “The lyrics and stories come through more when songs are played stripped back and it’s always a test of the songwriting to see if the work can stand up without the clothing of layers of production and effects.

“During those sessions, we couldn’t help but write some new songs too. So, what has emerged is a double EP: five new songs and four stripped back versions of past material. We also added orchestral versions of three songs from our fourth album, Hello My Beautiful World, featuring cinematic string arrangements of our songs by Brisbane composer Toby Alexander, with additional instrumentation from Oscar and some extra vocal layers from me.”

Carroll says the project’s first single, Love You Still, is “about enduring love – the kind that remains perpetually, even if you never see that person again, even if they’ve passed on, or if things have become difficult. Some loves just stay with you.”

Forthcoming new tracks from the upcoming body of work include the soaring We Think which is reminiscent of the band’s revered ‘Paint’ album era, the wild epic Island, the autobiographical title track, and the breath-taking So Be It, which Carroll says is “about what it feels like to say goodbye – and how strange and uncomfortable that can be.

“We often try to soften the moment by making plans to see each other again or promising to keep in touch. But this song is about sitting with the feeling, letting it be – because the living of life is the saying goodbye.”

Holy Holy

Holy Holy
Despite their name, Australian rock band Holy Holy hold no affiliation to any organization, but they can carry a song into the heavens. Formed by Brisbane vocalist Timothy Carroll and Melbourne guitarist Oscar Dawson, the band came into being over years and continents. The guys first met in Southeast Asia during volunteer teaching travels, and then reconnected in 2011 in Europe, where Carroll was gigging as a singer/songwriter in Stockholm and Dawson was in Berlin with his then-band, Dukes of Windsor. Upon their separate returns to Australia, they decided to make it official. Ryan Strathie joined on drums, Graham Ritchie on bass, and producer Matt Redlich provided synth support. Holy Holy released their first single, "Impossible Like You," in early 2014 and their four-song debut EP, The Pacific, soon followed. A year later they released their debut album, When the Storms Would Come, a ten-song collection of expansive, guitar-based soundscapes in the vein of Mark Knopfler or CSNY. Riding on the radio success of their massive single "You Cannot Call for Love Like a Dog," they sold out shows and toured Australia and Europe. In 2016, the band returned with "Darwinism," which was included on their sophomore effort. Paint arrived in 2017 and peaked in the Top Ten of the Australian album charts. (Neil Z. Yeung, AMG)

This album contains no booklet.