Reviewed by: Nicci Tait
Score: 7/10
When Elvis Depressedly first released Holo Pleasures/California Dreamin’, it was, to me, just a chill album to listen while getting ready for the day. Clocking in at just about 25 minutes, the lo-fi sound was perfect for waking up to and rushing to catch a bus. The walking tempo each song carries made me feel like this angsty kid as I begrudgingly made my way to summer math. It would not surprise me to find the track “Teeth” in some indie movie about an emotionally unstable high schooler. You know, the one with all the walking scenes to show how the kid is all alone and angry? I guess that’s really not specific enough.
This review is a little more personal, because this album meant a lot to me this summer. I found Holo Pleasures/California Dreamin’ just a couple days before my apartment burned down. While it burned, I watched the flames for about an hour in a panic. I waited four more hours for Red Cross to give me supply money and a lovely warning about how I might have anxiety around any alarms going off. I waited longer to salvage my apartment and speak with insurance about finding me a place to stay, before I settled on a hotel in East Ames. Basically, it was a day where nothing felt like it could be okay again, and I felt generally very hopeless. La, la, la life is terrible- end self-pity party.
First thing I did in that hotel was get in the shower. Elvis Depressedly was what I turned on, and I played through the album twice before I left, feeling like everything could be okay. Each song felt like a blanket I could wrap myself in- if a blanket could ever be made of indiscernible lyrics and filtered, heavily processed instrumentals. I got into the habit of playing the album everyday as I showered, repeating as many times as necessary. The opening line to the album is “Dream my fears come true as I’m trying to feel alright,” and I think that is such a perfect way to open the album: a conflict of fear and search for comfort.
None of this is to say that Holo Pleasures/California Dreamin’ is a very inspirational album- it didn’t pick me up or lift my spirits. This was an album to settle into and forget the world existed. I’m hoping I’m not identifying with too many people on the aspect of a burning apartment, but I think many people can relate to ever feeling scared, stressed or alone. This is an easy album to tune out the extra noise, take a half hour break, and come back feeling refreshed. Part of the reason it’s so easy to kick back to is just because the songs, in general all sound the same: easy to fall into.
A lot of tracks on here, after researching a bit on Genius, the lyric annotating website, Elvis Depressedly seems to have written as kind of a personal joke. For example, “Angel Cum Clean” references a time when lead singer Mat Cothran (of Coma Cinema) was “listening to music named after hard drugs while being on copious amounts of a different drug.” He’s not sure if this is actually funny. I think it’s funny if that counts for anything (it totally does and that’s what is beautiful about reviewing anything).
My favorite tracks are “Slip”, “Inside You”, and the title track “Holo Pleasures (California Dreamin’)”, but obviously I’m a big fan of the whole album. It’s perfect for people who like songs with lyrics but don’t want to know what they say without looking them up. Holo Pleasures/California Dreamin’ is a perfect album for anyone who is having even just a little bit of a bad day and needs a break from reality. I hope other people can find as much comfort in this weird, 25-minute album as I did.
FCC: 1, 4, 5
RIYL: Teen Suicide, Alex G, Coma Cinema, Spook Houses, Salvia Plath
Favorite Tracks: 2,3,5,7,8,10,11
