David Holmes - I Heard Wonders Review

Again, for The Music Magazine. I quite like the music of David Holmes although some of his soundtracks are a little predictable. I might check out his album.

The review:

Best known as a DJ, remixer, producer and soundtrack composer (most notably the recent 'Ocean's' trilogy), David Holmes is a musician who can never decide on his strengths. Now he releases 'I Heard Wonders' from his own 2008 album 'The Holy Pictures'. Predictably the single is a collaboration, such is the nature of these things, this time with Martin Rev (Suicide) as guest lyricist.

From the start 'I Heard Wonders' sparkles with a dense effervescence, bubbling with dark electronica. The vocals are part Reid brothers and part Bobby Gillespie, so the Jesus And Mary Chain vibe features heavily throughout, but it could as easily be Goldfrapp reworked by Maps. Comparisons aside, the song glides and flows with a subtle combination of vocals and electronic melody. One down side is the uninspired drum track which occasionally descends into Casio keyboard demo mode. Another problem is the lack of invention in the second half; music just repeats with little variety and depth and as the music fades, the vocal ending sounds a bit forced.

'I Heard Wonders' is not an immediately obvious choice for a single but Holmes has a way with music most mere mortals can only dream about. Like Craig Armstrong, David Arnold and to a lesser extent Moby (remember him?), he is both a jack of all trade and a master of some. The question remains: what could he achieve if he dispensed with all this diversity and focused on the music?

-- CS (for The Music Magazine)