Glasgow’s HOLY ESQUE announce the release of their long-awaited debut album, ‘AT HOPE’S RAVINE’, on 26 February on their own label Beyond The Frequency.
AT HOPE’S RAVINE is a primal, muscular, and utterly elemental work; a true epic in an era when such an epithet is overused. Here, bold is beautiful and HOLY ESQUE’s messages of hope and grief, escape and yearning, are writ large across sonic skies. “These are songs about belonging, fear, love, self-doubt, dreams, religion, release, darkness versus light and escape – especially escape,” says singer PAT HYNES.
HOLY ESQUE formed in Glasgow in 2011. Front man Hynes and keyboardist KEIR REID both grew up in post-war Lanarkshire new town East Kilbride, a place most usually known for its brutalist architecture and the birthplace of The Jesus & Mary Chain. Keyboardist Reid and drummer RALPH MCCLURE met at the famed Glasgow School of Art [alumni includes members of Franz Ferdinand, Peter Capaldi and some of Scotland’s most eminent poets, writers and painters of recent years] and, finally, HUGO MCGINLEY joined on guitar.
HOLY ESQUE will be playing a full UK headline tour, along with several festival appearances, as follows:
APRIL
Wed 06 PLYMOUTH Underground
Thu 07 NEWQUAY Whiskers
Fri 08 BUDE Carriers
Sat 09 CARDIFF Ifor Bach
Sun 10 BATH Moles
Wed 13 MANCHESTER Soup Kitchen
Thu 14 LIVERPOOL Arts Club
Fri 15 STOKE Sugarmill
Sat 16 BIRMINGHAM Sunflower Lounge
Wed 20 LONDON Lexington
Thu 21 BOURNEMOUTH 60 Million Postcards
Fri 22 BEDFORD Esquires
Sat 23 SOUTHAMPTON Lennon’s
Sun 24 GUIDFORD Boiler Room
Mon 25 CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
Wed 27 LEICESTER Cookie
Thu 28 NOTTINGHAM Bodega
Fri 29 SHEFFIELD Picture House Social
Sat 30 LEEDS Live @ Leeds
MAY
Sun 01 NEWCASTLE Think Tank
Sat 07 GLASGOW School Of Art
Thu 19 BRIGHTON Great Escape
Sun 29 LIVERPOOL Sound City
HOLY ESQUE’s music is comprised of tones and textures; peaks and troughs; brush strokes and breaking waves of sound. Chiming guitars interweave with emotive synth embellishments, and all shot through with Pat Hynes’ inimitable vocals, delivered from a dark place somewhere deep within his very centre.
AT HOPE’S RAVINE follows a clutch of exceptionally well received EPs, which saw the band play all over the world as an unsigned band. Produced by Grammy Award winning producer Jon Schumann [Mew, Kashmir] the album was recorded in a variety of locations and countries and is a bold statement of HOLY ESQUE’s life to date.
A surge of musical serotonin delivered with breathless intent, the chiming guitars of recent single HEXX recalls that time when post-punk made a bid for stadium filling greatness while it’s b-side, SILENCES, offers the hope hinted at in the album’s title.
The next single [released on the same day as the album on 7” vinyl] will be TEAR, a vital live favourite from HOLY ESQUE, and an important track in understanding the band. Singer Pat says, “Tear is a great example of two of the central themes of the album – darkness v light and hope. The song has an emotional weight and looks at the ever-constant fears and woes of everyday life against the hope of something better. It touches on escapism and the pursuit of greater things. It’s essential to the history and make-up of the band today”.
HOLY ESQUE enjoyed rising success throughout 2015, with SILENCES receiving incredible support from Annie Mac and Huw Stephens at BBC Radio 1, alongside constant press support from the Independent, the Sunday Times, the Guardian and the NME. In 2016 the band are set to truly make their mark.
