Enigmatic Electronic Collective holybones Unveil Video For ‘These Are The Rooms’
Enigmatic alt-electronic outfit holybones have today unveiled their self-directed music video for latest single ‘These Are The Rooms’, taken from their debut EP, I got a good night’s sleep, released 12th September. The project is a cryptic transmission of danceable melancholy, where glitched-out textures and second-hand sounds pulse between evocative, now-era spoken word.
‘These Are The Rooms’ – holybones’ most dynamic and danceable release yet, is one for friends and good times: “This song is about dance music. We wrote this when we thought we were out the other side of the noise. We love our mates; this is for them.” Euphoric yet tinged with a subtle yearning for nights gone by, the club-adjacent track wraps listeners in an immersive, enveloping soundscape.
The visual fully captures the spirit on the track; an ode to genuine friendships: “We were originally going to make a glossy HD thing. But ultimately, this song is super personal to us. It’s about our mates. So we gathered hundreds of iPhone videos from over the years and made it all about them.”
The six-track collection of songs on I got a good night’s sleep unfold as a tale of hope and disconnection, each track a vignette drawn from the lives around them. “We wrote these songs because we were finding it difficult being adults,” say holybones, reflecting on the experience of navigating their twenties amidst the chaos of the city. Sonically, CLASH said of the project “‘I got a good night’s sleep’ brings their composite sound to life: contemporizing Mike Skinner’s spoken-word dirges, the time stretched moodscapes of post-‘Burial’ Burial, while tapping into a parallel strain of Bricknasty’s restless capture of surround sound dance”.
The EP includes previous single releases ‘Saltywater’, ‘What You Talk’ and ‘Everywhere Break’, which have seen holybones earn love and plays from the likes of Jess Iszatt on BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra (CassKidd), BBC 6Music (Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq, Tom Ravenscroft & Deb Grant, Emily Pilbeam, Don Letts), and John Kennedy on Radio X. In addition, press support has come from outlets such as NME, The Line of Best Fit, CLASH, DIY, Ones To Watch and Wonderland.
Also available to stream are ‘What You Talk’ (Eddie Caine’s Pirate Dub) and ‘Everywhere Break’, remixed by Stresshead. The latter has received spins and support from acclaimed DJ salute during his recent sets. holybones released their debut single ‘Dogs’ last year, and were consequently selected as one of BBC 6Music’s Ones To Watch for 2025.
Igniting intrigue in the shadowy corners of London’s underground, the collective are beginning to make a name for themselves in the live space. Earlier this month, they played London’s Camden Assembly as part of AEG Rising’s Lock In Festival – a one-day event celebrating the very best in new music. The gig followed sold-out shows at The Social and Peckham Greyhound, having also cultivated a buzz down in Brighton at the Alternative Escape earlier this year. holybones will appear at Pitchfork Paris (6th November) and Pitchfork London (7th November), where they will play London’s iconic Roundhouse alongside the likes of Oklou, Erika de Casier, Malibu, Nick León & Loukeman.
The faceless force of holybones builds community through anonymity, where their world is at once lonely yet intimate, human yet otherworldly. “We met hiking in 2020. We come from all over the shop – music, theatre, poetry. When we met at the start of this project, we all felt anonymous – living in London in your 20s can do this. In that hinterland, we banded together to make a project that reflects that feeling; everybody being lost together. We found each other and we found a home – holybones. We wear the bandages for the same reasons anyone would – to hide or to heal.”
I got a good night’s sleep | Tracklist
1. Saltywater
2. Everywhere Break
3. What You Talk
4. These Are The Rooms
5. whet
6. Leavers