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Photo – MICHELLE GRACE HUNDER

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Beloved Australian group Holy Holy (AKA Timothy Carroll and Oscar Dawson) today announce their highly anticipated new album Cellophane, out Friday 22 September.

The ARIA Double Platinum act’s fifth album finds them shedding their inhibitions, alleviating themselves of the weight of expectation and pushing their sound to new territory.

Much of the spirit of Cellophane stems from its collaborative nature. The album features a plethora of cross-genre guests from Australia and abroad – more guests than on any previous Holy Holy release to date.

There’s the frenetic previously released single ‘Messed Up’ with Sydney rap sensation Kwame, the swaying RnB-flavoured ‘Neon St’ with Ethiopian-Australian neo-soul wunderkind Medhanit, the buoyant dance infused ‘Pretend To Be’ featuring production flourishes from Bag Raiders, and the charged 80s montage-scene pop of ‘Ready’ – a text message duet with Tasmanian electronica act Sumner (check out the stunning video for ‘Ready’ released today).

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Elsewhere on Cellophane, Gumbaynggirr multi-hyphenate Tasman Keith flexes not only his impressive flow, but his incredible falsetto on ‘This Time’ and Perth newcomer Darcie Haven gets in on the action in ‘Heroes’, while on the international front there are collabs with UK upstart Tia Carys on ‘Two Minds, Two Days, Two Mornings’ and Swedish bedroom-pop artist Many Voices Speak sings in-language on the title track.

Some of these names you might know, but more tellingly there are some you might not – and that is exactly why Holy Holy wanted to use their platform to get these talents out to more eyes and ears.

“We formulated this idea of Holy Holy as this kind of songwriting factory,” says singer Carroll of the Cellophane’s extensive collaborations. “What would happen if we got a day or two with all of these really talented and really interested people, wrap around them and create something cool together? We really enjoyed the process, and we loved getting to know all these different artists. It became like a family, and it creates a tapestry that’s so rich and so exciting to us.”

Guitarist/producer Dawson views the album’s extensive features list as something that could have only come at this exact point in Holy Holy’s career – it’s a product of the duo’s decade-plus partnership, and the sense of confidence that has come with it.

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“I don’t think we would have been ready if we tried something like this on an earlier album,” he says. “We’ve made a lot of progress, especially as songwriters – we’ve been really able to narrow in on a musical idea and get a real feel for a song. After making most of [Holy Holy’s previous album] Hello My Beautiful World on our own because of COVID, it was so nice to be able to get together with people in a room and make music together again.”

If 2021’s ARIA-nominated, top 5 charting album Hello My Beautiful World was Holy Holy running forth into the great unknown, Cellophane is a free-fall.

“In the past, this band has had a really considered approach,” says Carroll. “This time, I feel like Oscar and I have made an album where each song is really allowed to be exactly what it wants to be. We didn’t force anything. I was really excited about the idea of letting go of being concerned of what other people would think, and really just trusting ourselves.”

Cellophane will be available in vinyl in four striking different transparent colours – amber, royal blue, emerald green and ruby red, inspired by the album’s cover art (below), which was designed by the band’s longtime collaborator Timothy Lovett. Pre-order and check out bundle options here.

Cellophane is an album that calls for love – true love – and that message only grows stronger with every spin. Immerse yourself on 22 September – and get ready with the new video for ‘Ready (feat. Sumner)’ directed by Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore, released today.

Stay tuned for some exciting news about some in-person launch events across the country, coming soon.

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Photo – MICHELLE GRACE HUNDER

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AMNPLIFY – DB