Hollan Holmes :: The Sanctity of Rust (Spotted Peccary Music)

A mix of raw, gritty, mechanical sounds and tender, introspective passages

There’s a sense of honesty in rust, rust doesn’t hide its age or its history. Instead, it wears it openly. What was once smooth and uniform transforms into something textured and unpredictably beautiful, almost like a landscape in miniature. When iron rusts, the oxides take up more volume than the original metal. This expansion can generate enormous forces. Given sufficient time, any iron mass in the presence of water and oxygen will form rust and eventually convert entirely to rust.

“I wanted to write an album that celebrates rust’s beauty and endurance, in the same way I celebrate rust in my fine art work.” ~Hollan Holmes

This album also features the greatest abundance of piano and Rhodes electric piano that Holmes has ever recorded, which is something he has wanted to delve deeper into for a while now. “I must confess a few constant influences: JM Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Steve Roach, Richard Burmer, Rush, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin. “

The Sanctity of Rust is a mix of raw, gritty, mechanical sounds and tender, introspective passages, offering a contemplative reflection of long passages of time. Surviving is worthy of respect for the battle scars, the brutal effects of time and the beauty in the rust, both real and metaphorical, turning corrosion into character and reminding us that even in deterioration, there can be striking, unconventional elegance. Holmes likes to bury melodies within melodies, which adds a richness to the harmonics and overall sound.

“As an artist, I’ve had a love for all things rusty since I was a kid exploring the farmlands around my home. Rusty old tractors, farm implements, windmills, all the old, mechanical machines from the turn of the century, The Sanctity of Rust is about the beauty of age, the celebration of endurance and the honor of growing old.”

This music is a celebration of the achievement of reaching old age. I am still thinking about that one.

Rusted metal has a quiet, unexpected beauty—the kind that comes from time, weather, and the slow process of decay. The main catalyst for the rusting process is water. Its surface becomes a living record of oxidation and weathering caused by sun, rain and wind, shifting from deep oranges to smoky reds and earthy browns and violets, in the forms of instrumental music, pretty much all electronic. I sense many different visions and expressions, mostly energetic. I need to tell you now that we are going to be going to the end of all things.

Holmes is using a lot of the same tools that he has used in the past, such as Native Instruments, Arturia Pigments and Spectrasonics Omnisphere. “I’ve also added some new hardware to the studio, such as the Korg MS20 and the Oberheim Matrix 12 (left in disrepair for the last decade). I’ve also acquired a Moog memorymoog, but it won’t make an appearance in my recordings until future projects.”

The Sanctity of Rust explores new and exciting sound design, specifically, FM synthesis, samples and distortion tools making sounds that I’ve not heard very much until now. As in the past, Holmes loves sound design first and foremost. He says that more often than not, the sound will inspire the composition. Music can transfer feelings that simply cannot be expressed in words. “I find incredible beauty in these old, rusty things that were the inspiration for this project, a celebration of the beauty of rust.“

Mastered by Howard Givens. The gritty and tender graphic design is by Daniel Pipitone. The album is available as a CD or as 24 / 16 Bit Studio Masters, as well as via the Streaming. No AI was used in the creation of this music.

Press play. A triumphant haunting creaking distorted melody, sometimes I imagine tapping felt hammers on metal, the energy is rousing and energizing and the entire excursion builds on an upward trajectory, rust never sleeps. The signal brings a good strong empowering feeling of triumph. With special guest Bill Porter on the Suhr Standard S electric guitar, “The Sanctity of Rust” (5:08) launches perfectly, full speed ahead.

Adjusting the trajectory, “The Unstoppable March of Time” (5:33) brings a slower phase, an almost solemn ascension and a different hammering pattern, also energizing and reflecting until a steady stomp beat kicks in, and now we are picking up strength. The piano stands up, another series of triumphs, upbeat and full of light, an anthem of life and direction. Next we start off darkly in church, a solemn opening, “Once More Unto The Breach” (6:10) soon builds dramatically, we risk everything to burst out and take the high ground. Who are these legions who give everything?

Darkness expands and curves ::

The next track brings bubbly electronics, breaking loose and rising into the dazzling light, “Moebius Trip” (5:34) is a kinetic excursion, around and back around again never topping. The pulse builds, a rapid sequencer and giant bass monster takes it around and around. Darkness expands and curves, “Triumph Over Tragedy” (5:22) is filled with glorious illusions, solid whirling bands and spectacular patterns that mesh and weave. A beat comes along and pulls together the elements, the feeling flirts with flying away but instead marches on, into a long slow endless exit. We have reached the “Night Sky” (5:30), a dark hymn, every light is up there in the sky after the sun sets. The darkness swirls all around at a million miles per hour in the void as we stand listening. The celestial scope is more perfectly depicted as we go. The power is steadily slowly coming up as the distance is revealed.

\With another new cautious awakening, accepting a vast distance from here off into infinity, “So Far Away” (5:21) gets complicated as more instruments join in. The power is uncoiling, the feeling is climbing quickly, if you could only see the view from up here! Everything is getting brighter and brighter, “Spellbound” (6:42) enchants with so many moving parts that form layers and cycle into infinity. Slowly calming down with new tempo and direction, “One Door Closes Another Opens” (6:25), the power increases steadily, the biggest door of all opens. Mysterious clouds with lights form, something is growing, a cosmic wind blows and we are traveling, building from zero to infinity and about to explode into some new kind of wonderment, plus some funk bass, “The Fantastic Journey” (6:36) keeps on feeling good. I have a feeling of soaring, turning in new directions all the time, we just flow on, back into the zone.

Curiously opening into a piano, soon the bass has us in the spell, “Battle Scars” (5:44) has a conceptually difficult title, but the music is actually uplifting. I hear weaving keyboards and the power of percussive thumps, while passing through dark dangerous territory. The memories seem haunting and eternal. Now all is lost and I must be in church again, so peaceful, dark and safe, as promised “Here at The End of All Things” (6:04), the feeling opens the final door for a new melody, getting louder, repeating and building a sturdy foundation, getting stronger, more defined, creating incremental power then arcing into the new epochs ahead.

A sonic picture book of 12 unique adventures ::

The Sanctity of Rust is a little bit like a sonic picture book of 12 unique adventures, moving through various emotional landscapes, while subtly turning the corrosion of life into a celebration of survival. Hollan Holmes delivers a conceptual ambient-electronic album that energizes beauty, while considering decay, aging, and the passage of time. This could act in a sonic parallel to Holmes‘ visual art, celebrating the unconventional elegance of oxidation and endurance. The Sanctity of Rust also features a significant increase in piano and Rhodes electric piano, adding an expansive human touch to his signature electronic layers.

A deeply personal and healing work, The Sanctity of Rust moves beyond sound design to offer a living record of history and character, there are a range of emotions that combust and combine, from the original ferric form changing color, and crumbling into time, and further into new transformations in each of the possible futures. Hollan Holmes grew up in a house with a piano, which served to feed a thirst for the creative process of making and playing music. The formation of his first band took place during his high school senior year, an interest which was further fueled by his discovery of synthesizers and the purchase of a Moog Prodigy, courtesy of a loan from his grandmother. Holmes still owns and uses (and must regularly calibrate) that old analog classic. In the early 80s, he discovered Jean Michel Jarre and, later, Tangerine Dream, both of which would forever alter his musical direction.

Soon he started writing his own music, from the late 80s until 2005, when he converted a room of his home into a music studio, where five years later, in 2010, he would produce his debut album, A Distant Light to critical acclaim. Two of his albums, Phase Shift and The Spirits of Starlight, were nominated as One World Music’s Album Of The Year. His 2017 double release, Prayer To The Energy, was the most difficult work of his musical career, requiring two years of serious effort and careful introspection, but was very well received and is considered by many to be his finest work.

Holmes has already gained a reputation as a serious fine artist and graphic designer, the skills of which have allowed him to imagine and create the original visual themes of all of his albums. Both of these careers, Holmes says, feed off of one another, very much a symbiotic relationship. Energy from one feeds the energy for the other. Self-taught in both disciplines, Holmes strives to master both art forms to the very best of his abilities and the act of sharing his creations with the world brings him great joy, which drives him to create even more.

DISCOGRAPHY ::
Self released:
A Distant Light December 29, 2010
The Farthest Fringes December 30, 2011
Phase Shift March 15, 2013
The Spirits Of Starlight July 1, 2014
Incandescent March 27, 2015
Prayer To The Energy February 1, 2017

On Spotted Peccary Music:
Milestones February 21, 2020
Emerald Waters January 14, 2022
Sacred Places January 12, 2024
The Sanctity of Rust April 17, 2026