holon (Norway): Crossover/Eclectic?

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I'll start by saying that the small case 'h' in 'holon' in my topic title isn't a yam yam typo...that's how the band themselves spell their name, so I've done likewise. 
Anyhow, the debut album from these guys has been out almost a month now...it definitely belongs here...and nobody has picked up on it as yet, so I'm gonna break my habit of not posting new suggestions on here anymore if I can help it, and see what we can do for them.

Here's the bio from their website: http://www.holon.no/

"holon is one of the musical outlets of singer, songwriter and guitarist Ronny Pedersen. Ronny seriously started getting into music around the age of 12 after having been seduced by the illustrious sound of the guitar. After initially trying to mimic the rock guitar gods of the 80's and 90's, mostly focusing on lead guitar, he eventually opened up to other genres such as prog-rock, jazz, Frank Zappa and even world music. During his 20's his focus started shifting more from the lead guitar to songwriting, which naturally led the way to expressing himself through singing. This he found to be an even more expressive outlet than indirectly expressing himself through the guitar. His drive towards making music has only grown stronger throughout the years, and 25 years after he found his initial connection with the guitar he started the holon project.

The project was intended to be a vehicle for expressing himself through his songwriting and to collaborate with other skilled musicians. In 2012 Ronny started working on the debut album "The Time Is Always Now" with Rhys Marsh as producer. The two of them had met through a common friend a while before, and Rhys really took a liking to the material he was shown - leading to Rhys wanting to give out the album on his label Autumnsongs Records. Rhys also helped out with the arrangments on some of the songs and ended up singing and playing a multitude of instruments on the album as well. Other musicians that contribute on the debut album are - Geir Anfinn Halland Johansen (Anfinnsaas, Stilk and Trasig) on drums, Silje Leirvik on vocals, Kari Harneshaug on vocals, Ketil Vestrum Einarsen (Jaga Jazzist, White Willow) on flute and Lars Fredrik Frøislie (Wobbler, White Willow, Tusmørke) on hammond."

The debut album is called "The Time Is Always Now".

Label: Autumnsongs Records
Format: CD, vinyl, digital 
Release date: August 12, 2016

Tracklist: 
1. The Belly Of Being (9:43) 
2. The Times They Are A-Taming (7:04) 
3. Dancer In The Sky (5:00) 
4. Falling (10:42) 
5. Time To Go (10:06) 
6. Two Grains Of Sand (5:45) 
7. The Time Is Always Now (11:11) 
8. A Drop Of Me (8:42) 

Total time 68:13

Line-up: 
- Ronny Pedersen / guitars, lead vocals (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8), backing vocals (2), bass guitar (1, 5, 7, 8), sitar, programming

With:
- Rhys Marsh (Kaukasus, Mandala, Opium Cartel) / lead vocals (2, 5), backing vocals (1, 3, 6, 7, 8), pedal steel, bass guitar (2, 3, 4, 7, 8), mellotron, rhodes, piano, vocoder modulation (7), various keys and all things bowable
- Geir Anfinn / drums
- Halland Johansen / drums
- Silje Leirvik / lead vocals (4), backing vocals (1, 2, 6, 7, 8)
- Kari Harneshaug / lead vocals (3, 6)
- Ketil Vestrum Einarsen (Kaukasus, Jaga Jazzist, Opium Cartel) / flute (1, 4, 8)
- Lars Fredrik Froislie (Wobbler, White Willow) / hammond solo (5)

"Musically this album is influenced by a great variety of genres and I don’t feel the need to constrain myself in order to try and fit a certain label,” says holon’s Ronny Pedersen. “As long as music touches or excites me I try to be open and not care what genre it is, but it has to meet me on either the emotional or technical level, or best of all, on both levels. This is the kind of music I try to make myself - music that can satisfy the heart and both halves of the brain."

The often epic songs show the influence of a wide variety of genres - including acoustic folk and the sophisticated side of 1960's pop, with meticulously crafted song writing at its core. The songs tell the story of an individual's philosophical, spiritual and evolutionary journey towards finding their place and purpose in this world and at this particular time, and are largely based on Pedersen's personal experiences (and his attraction towards the Buddhist worldview).

The full album can be streamed (for the time being at least) at http://www.popmatters.com/post/holon-the-time-is-always-now-album-stream-premiere/.

And you can purchase it here: https://www.burningshed.com/store/autumnsongsrecords/product/467/7788/.

See also:
https://www.facebook.com/holon.official/

And just in case it goes to Crossover rather than Eclectic, I added them to progfreak: http://progfreak.com/holon-167214.html.  

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yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5820	Topic: holon (Norway): Crossover/Eclectic? Posted: September 10 2016 at 19:07
	I'll start by saying that the small case 'h' in 'holon' in my topic title isn't a yam yam typo...that's how the band themselves spell their name, so I've done likewise. Anyhow, the debut album from these guys has been out almost a month now...it definitely belongs here...and nobody has picked up on it as yet, so I'm gonna break my habit of not posting new suggestions on here anymore if I can help it, and see what we can do for them. Here's the bio from their website: http://www.holon.no/ "holon is one of the musical outlets of singer, songwriter and guitarist Ronny Pedersen. Ronny seriously started getting into music around the age of 12 after having been seduced by the illustrious sound of the guitar. After initially trying to mimic the rock guitar gods of the 80's and 90's, mostly focusing on lead guitar, he eventually opened up to other genres such as prog-rock, jazz, Frank Zappa and even world music. During his 20's his focus started shifting more from the lead guitar to songwriting, which naturally led the way to expressing himself through singing. This he found to be an even more expressive outlet than indirectly expressing himself through the guitar. His drive towards making music has only grown stronger throughout the years, and 25 years after he found his initial connection with the guitar he started the holon project. The project was intended to be a vehicle for expressing himself through his songwriting and to collaborate with other skilled musicians. In 2012 Ronny started working on the debut album "The Time Is Always Now" with Rhys Marsh as producer. The two of them had met through a common friend a while before, and Rhys really took a liking to the material he was shown - leading to Rhys wanting to give out the album on his label Autumnsongs Records. Rhys also helped out with the arrangments on some of the songs and ended up singing and playing a multitude of instruments on the album as well. Other musicians that contribute on the debut album are - Geir Anfinn Halland Johansen (Anfinnsaas, Stilk and Trasig) on drums, Silje Leirvik on vocals, Kari Harneshaug on vocals, Ketil Vestrum Einarsen (Jaga Jazzist, White Willow) on flute and Lars Fredrik Frøislie (Wobbler, White Willow, Tusmørke) on hammond." The debut album is called "The Time Is Always Now". Label: Autumnsongs Records Format: CD, vinyl, digital Release date: August 12, 2016 Tracklist: 1. The Belly Of Being (9:43) 2. The Times They Are A-Taming (7:04) 3. Dancer In The Sky (5:00) 4. Falling (10:42) 5. Time To Go (10:06) 6. Two Grains Of Sand (5:45) 7. The Time Is Always Now (11:11) 8. A Drop Of Me (8:42) Total time 68:13 Line-up: - Ronny Pedersen / guitars, lead vocals (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8), backing vocals (2), bass guitar (1, 5, 7, 8), sitar, programming With: - Rhys Marsh (Kaukasus, Mandala, Opium Cartel) / lead vocals (2, 5), backing vocals (1, 3, 6, 7, 8), pedal steel, bass guitar (2, 3, 4, 7, 8), mellotron, rhodes, piano, vocoder modulation (7), various keys and all things bowable - Geir Anfinn / drums - Halland Johansen / drums - Silje Leirvik / lead vocals (4), backing vocals (1, 2, 6, 7, 8) - Kari Harneshaug / lead vocals (3, 6) - Ketil Vestrum Einarsen (Kaukasus, Jaga Jazzist, Opium Cartel) / flute (1, 4, 8) - Lars Fredrik Froislie (Wobbler, White Willow) / hammond solo (5) "Musically this album is influenced by a great variety of genres and I don’t feel the need to constrain myself in order to try and fit a certain label,” says holon’s Ronny Pedersen. “As long as music touches or excites me I try to be open and not care what genre it is, but it has to meet me on either the emotional or technical level, or best of all, on both levels. This is the kind of music I try to make myself - music that can satisfy the heart and both halves of the brain." The often epic songs show the influence of a wide variety of genres - including acoustic folk and the sophisticated side of 1960's pop, with meticulously crafted song writing at its core. The songs tell the story of an individual's philosophical, spiritual and evolutionary journey towards finding their place and purpose in this world and at this particular time, and are largely based on Pedersen's personal experiences (and his attraction towards the Buddhist worldview). The full album can be streamed (for the time being at least) at http://www.popmatters.com/post/holon-the-time-is-always-now-album-stream-premiere/. And you can purchase it here: https://www.burningshed.com/store/autumnsongsrecords/product/467/7788/. See also: https://www.facebook.com/holon.official/ And just in case it goes to Crossover rather than Eclectic, I added them to progfreak: http://progfreak.com/holon-167214.html.

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5820	Posted: September 23 2016 at 08:40
	Well, this disappeared with very little interest shown indeed, attracting a meagre thirty four views in almost a fortnight, but for what it's worth the album is now on progstreaming: http://progstreaming.nl/pages/play-album.php?activeAlbum=2016-09-23-02%20-%20Holon%20-%20The%20Time%20Is%20Always%20Now. Edit: The progstreaming link is now dead. , but you can find some reviews of the album at http://www.artisttrove.com/artist/146464005488592/holon. Edited by yam yam - October 14 2016 at 22:22

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5820	Posted: December 17 2016 at 12:54
	More reviews are coming in, the topic still lies here with cobwebs all over it, so I think it's time for another bump. The latest 'Prog' magazine has a short review of the album in it which says: "It's a heady cocktail of styles, feel and aura, but surprisingly it never feels forced, with Muse mingling with Pat Metheny, Mellotron meshing with sitar ... For a debut album, this is seriously sumptuous stuff!" The band have posted that text, and details of some other recent reviews, on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holon.official/posts/930786073723044. I know that the Crossover den is seemingly closed for business right now, but it won't hurt to refresh the thread every now and again for anyone passing through here who might not have sampled holon's music yet. ...And of course, Eclectic could always have a listen first...

Evolver Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams Joined: October 22 2005 Location: The Idiocracy Status: Offline Points: 5482	Posted: December 21 2016 at 05:31
	I added them to the Crossover chart
	Trust me. I know what I'm doing.

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5820	Posted: December 21 2016 at 06:23
	LOL! Thanks Scott! Hope I didn't offend you too much by suggesting that The Crossover Den was all boarded up...but it does seem to have been a bit quiet round there just lately! I've missed the place a Hell of a lot to be honest these last three and a half years, and would love to be able to help you guys out again, but I'm just as hopeless at determining what is and isn't 'prog' now as I was then...and unless I could take care of cleared artist additions, there'd be little point anyway. Take your time with holon, my friend, and have yourself a great Christmas and New Year!

Magnum Vaeltaja Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 01 2015 Location: Out East Status: Offline Points: 6777	Posted: December 26 2016 at 10:29
	Sorry for not responding to this sooner. I just gave the album a brief listen and feel that they're in the appropriate hands for now with crossover.
	when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents