The second release from Portland based power rock trio the holdout is unabashedly brash and loaded with punk energy for days. Written during the pandemic, the record echoes the sentiments of loss, love, and hope that came alongside witnessing the world burning as we were confined inside. The recording was itself delayed by natural disasters that came through wildfires and ice storms, truly highlighting the sheer range of natural and manmade disaster that’s afflicting us all. There’s buckets of disillusionment all over this record, but within it all is a fiery cry for hope and a better tomorrow.
Kicking the album off with a flurry of electric washed over guitars on ‘Loud As A Siren’, which bears with it infectious and melodic vocal harmonisation alongside the more heavy and electric arrangements, there’s almost an immediate confluence of styles between punk and indie pop. What’s most noticable throughout this record is the holdout’s affinity for making tracks that don’t bother to stand as just singular short blips. Each piece on this record is fleshed out. There’s a comfort on this group to create lengthy pieces, to truly flesh out their vision of each. The immediate freneticism of a piece like ‘Pray For Rain’ particularly stood out to me as an album highlight. It moves from chaos to serenity seamlessly.
Definitely, there’s a constant style that the holdout seem to deploy continually through this record. There’s not a great deal of experimentation consequently. They have a formula, and they’ve nailed it to a cross with meticulous precision across each of these nine pieces. Punk or indie? Perhaps somewhere in between. It’s a fusion that’s beyond any other alternative rock record out today. Undeniably, what can be assured is a sense of absolute anthemic euphoria at the crescendo of each of these pieces. And that is what makes ‘Won’t Be Leaving Here Today’ especially inviting.