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Texas-based
electronic music maestro Hollan Holmes released Incandescent
in 2015 and in 2016 he partnered with Bill Olien and Gary Johnson
for the first release by their electronica ensemble Common Ground.
Hollan revives his solo career in 2017 with a two CD set of newly
minted, synth-driven instrumentals called Prayer To The Energy.
The double CD set features two distinct sides of Hollan’s
music. Hollan’s sixth full length solo album, Prayer To The
Energy features eight tracks of his sequence-driven, ultra melodic,
Berlin-School style of electronics, which Tangerine Dream helped to
popularize, on the 62 minute disc one, while disc two, at 59 minutes,
features six tracks of drone-based, long-form ‘soundworlds’,
which are more ambient sounding, compared to the more kinetic sounding
electronics on disc one. Speaking about the source of inventive music
he's been making these past years, Hollan tells mwe3.com, "I've
said it on numerous occasions that my music is how I pray, how I lament,
how I meditate. I don't know from where my musical ideas come, but
it is that wellspring of energy that I pray I never lose."
The sheer
amount meticulous craft involved in Hollan’s new album is reflected
by his use of vintage and new hardware synthesizers, which adds an
even more authentic aura to his latest recording. With the double
CD release of Prayer To The Energy, you can add Hollan Holmes
to the roster of outstanding American ambient music composers recording
new electronica in the 21st century. 
mwe3:
We were discussing the amazing cover art for your new double CD set
called Prayer To The Energy on your Facebook page. On the CD
cover you have a utility pole bathed in purple light. Are you saying
that 20th century electricity / energy is our new God so to speak
and if we’re bad they power will go out and we’ll suffer
the consequences? How can we pray to something so unstable? Living
in South Florida we’ve had numerous power outages from hurricane
scares in recent years because of the vintage form of 20th century
power.
The painting
of the Hemingray glass insulator ties into the cover image, which
depicts several of them. It was also inspired by the song, “Insulated”,
which strengthens my assertion that society is insulated from Mother
Nature and that we give little thought to our vulnerability to the
failure of the technologies upon which we now so heavily rely. Remove
these technologies and we're in big trouble, because so few of us
have any basic skills to cope with the absence of our fragile technological
infrastructure.
mwe3:
The liner notes say some of the tracks on Prayer To The Energy
were written Chuck Van Zyl’s radio show called “Stars End”
(starsend.org) How did you meet Chuck and how would you describe those
track for Stars End radio? Are they redone or the radio show originals?
Hollan
Holmes: The approach was different from Common Ground in that
it was not a group effort, but only me, which possesses a very different
approach mentally. It differs from Incandescent in that I used
a lot of hardware synths and live-recorded tracks, instead of mouse-drawn
sequences driving soft-synths. I'd been wanting to record live tracks
using my hardware synths for a long time and I decided it was time
to just go for it. Compositionally, one could compare it to Common
Ground in that on both albums, song ideas were born from experimenting
for hundreds of hours with analog synths, exploring sound design and
melodic structures that can only come about from playing a live instrument.
It's a way of working that requires at least some level of proficiency
in sound design and technical ability to play an instrument, which
results in the confidence necessary to let go and explore music emotionally.
Because I
love the Dave Smith Instruments new OB-6, I ended up using it on several
songs on both CDs, including on “Insulated”, “Great
Expectations”, “Lucid Dreams”, “Cloud World”
and “Cerro Torre”. My Moog Prodigy was used at the beginning
of “Cerro Torre”. The DSI Pro 2 was used on “The Suspension
Of Time” and “That Ephemeral Spark”. The Prophet 12
got used only on “Cloud World”, as it was damaged in a studio
accident early in production. The MS2000 was used on “Insulated”,
but is pretty buried in the mix. Most of the hardware synths were
recorded as live tracks played with the other midi sequenced tracks.
It took me a while to get some of the recordings, because I'm really
not that proficient of a musician. My strengths lie in composing.
Hollan
Holmes: I worked in the film and animation industry for about
thirteen years as a texture artist/surfacing artist, before I was
laid off in October of 2016. I had to make a decision quickly about
whether or not to pursue a position within the film industry or leave
the industry and become a full-time painter. I chose the latter, because
it has always been my first love and I was becoming burned out with
the film industry. It was becoming less and less about being an artist
and more and more about being proficient with software, which is not
only boring to me, but it simply wasn't my strength. It will take
many years to become successful as a painter and there is no guarantee
that I will even be able to make it in that arena, but it's a challenge
that I embrace with enthusiasm and confidence, even during what is
likely the worst time in recent economic history to become a professional
artist. I'm enjoying life, though, more than I have in a long time.
Put me in a big meadow in front of a mountain range, with an easel
and brushes, instead of a desk and computer any day. Plein air
painting beats pixel pushing every time.