Hollie Kenniff :: For Those Who Stay (Nettwerk)

For Those Who Stay has an extremely meditative sound. Languid sustained tones, whispers of guitar, the humming hush of a quiet vocal wordless breath, murmurs of restrained piano, each song flowing into another like each breath in and out breath flows into another during meditation.

Soundscapes to merge with and bring light into the day

Hollie Kenniff’s musical work is becoming well known for its airy, dreamy quality and its extremely meditative sound. That growing renown is well deserved. I first became a fan of her music when I listened to her previous solo outing, For Forever, from late 2024. She followed that up with a remix EP featuring further reified ambient versions from her husband Helios. Other collaborators for that EP included electronica artists such as Christopher Willits, Antarctic Wastelands, Anita Tatlow, and Anna Phoebe. It was a perfect companion to the original album and the reinterpretations remain just as sedative in their calming effect.

2025 saw the release of the ambient album When We Are Free with her husband Keith Kenniff, aka Goldmund, aka Helios, in a new project called Harbors. She already plays with Keith in the more synth heavy shoegaze and indie pop outfit Mint Julep. Hollie and Keith stay quite busy, but they do so, in part, by creating also creating quiet serenity. Soundscapes to merge with and bring light into the day.

This new solo album has an extremely meditative sound. Languid sustained tones, whispers of guitar, the humming hush of a quiet vocal wordless breath, murmurs of restrained piano, each song flowing into another like each breath in and out breath flows into another during meditation. Until you lose yourself. This an album to help you lose yourself in a deeper sense of self, something more true than the anxious and chaotic thoughts of the conscious mind, in its place.

 

A moment of deep contemplation ::

The songs can seem quite repetitive and similar, but that’s because they are part of a whole, and if you are listening to ambient, that’s what you wanted right? The repetition isn’t monotonous. It is the drone of eternity, the constant note that sings and vibrates drawing you inward into yourself. The music demands attention, but like any good ambient, it can serve as an atmosphere.

Songs like “Of Quiet Beauty” and “Around the Like While Time Slows” sink deeper and deeper into musical deep tissue massage as they progress, leaving relaxation and rest in their emotive wake.

Where For Forever might have wrapped (shoe) gauze around the wounds of contemporary living, this album, For Those Who Stay, peels some of that wrapping back to see how those wounds have healed. They might hurt a little bit still, but in the pain is the promise of growth and forgiveness.

From beginning to end of this record I am completely engulfed in waves of sound. The work is layered, but there is never too much. It seems simple but it is exceedingly rich in its detail. I find my mind drifting as I listen to this music, not because it doesn’t hold my attention, but because it puts me into a moment of deep contemplation. It is a true gift, and because of that I will keep on coming back to Hollie Kenniff’s work when I need to find my own center of peace.

For Those Who Stay is available on Nettwerk. [Bandcamp]