‘Holly Holden is a modern example of an artist who thinks beyond borders.’ - Kreol Magazine
Aside from her solo project Holly is also a member of all female vocal group Deep Throat Choir who released their debut album ‘Be OK’ on Bella Union in Spring 2017 and Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, whose headline UK tour she will be supporting in March 2017.
Brought to you by booking agency and Artist Development Division at Diplomats of Sound, Holly's side project Deep Throat Choir recently featured and performed on BBC 4 Radio 'Loose Ends' with Clive Anderson. Her sound has been shaped by many years of travel and collaboration in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, Dominican Republic. It fuses ‘tropical’ rhythms like reggae, rocksteady, salsa, bolero and cumbia with soulful, RnB, pop vocal melodies. ‘Tropical Soul’ is about feeling the freedom to exist in the moment, to live and love as you like. In a time when there’s so much talk of building walls, it celebrates music as a borderless, timeless, liberating force, powerful in its universality.
Inspired by language, Holly often combines English and Spanish in her lyrics so that her songs are spaces where anything goes, where nothing is pure and which make sense in many different contexts. They’re familiar and exotic all at once, bitter-sweet, upbeat yet melancholy, memories of warmth written in the cold winter, sunshine in the night time.
Holly was born and brought up in West London. She spent her teenage years in Cornwall by the sea and much of her twenties making music in Bristol and Berlin. Not feeling she belongs anywhere in particular, Holly sees music as a passport that means she’s at home anywhere she goes. In 2012 Holly formed ‘X Planet’, a collaborative project with Cuban rapper Alayo Style. Their album Xistence, recorded in Santiago de Cuba with reggaeton producer Kiki Pro. The following summer Holly toured throughout Europe with dubstep producer Mala as a vocalist in live performances of his ‘Mala in Cuba’ album at festivals including WOMAD, Worldwide Festival, North Sea Jazz and Fiesta des Suds. Collaboration’s on Holly’s music CV include folk singer Johnny Flynn’s band, drummer David Beauchamp and guitarist Frank Clarke. Holly has also performed at numerous UK festivals including Green Man Festival.
2017 is set to be a groundbreaking year for Holly. The new eagerly awaited Holly Y Su Banda EP to be released in spring, drawing on her signature Tropical Soul sound, expect an EP full of lush, billingual, sultry and seductive soul pop medlodies, to help you escape to that tropical desert island in your mind.
To whet your appetites, check out her video for "Run"