Bob Holroyd returns with new single highlighting the plight of Afghan women and repressed voices ‘Hidden Voices Unveiled’
Bob Holroyd | Photo credit: Simon Painter
Selected press for Bob Holroyd:
"Beatific piano instrumentals on an acid electric warm-wash" – MOJO
“His objective is to get the maximum from the minimum” – Electronic Sound
"Reserved composition, delicate and organic melody and pure emotion." – DJ Mag
"a beautiful example of the sheer artistry that drives Bob Holroyd's work." – Clash
“the sound of the artist trying to break the confines of his self-possessed introspection” – PROG
“stunning” – Resident Advisor
“Massive Attack style broody stalking sexiness” – Mixmag
“quite simply the gentlest, most emotionally potent, enveloping piece of electro-acoustic ambient music I’ve heard in a very long time” – Hypnagogue
Today, ambient electronic composer Bob Holroyd returns with details of a new single titled ‘Hidden Voices Unveiled’.
Ranging from ambient minimalism to world music, modern classical to jazz, Bob Holroyd’s music is often hard to pigeon hole. With an extensive back catalogue of albums and remixes to his name, Holroyd’s eclectic and texturally cinematic work has been recognised and remixed extensively by a huge range of artists such as Coldcut, Nitin Sawhney, Four Tet, Francois K, Mogwai, The Album Leaf, T. Williams, Lemonde, Loop Guru, Steve Roach and more, and has been used prominently in mainstream TV and films such as The Dark Knight, Lost, True Blood, The Sopranos, Panorama, Coast and many more.
Over the course of his musical career Bob Holroyd has pioneered music that crosses musical and cultural boundaries, and as a result his music is influenced by a diverse array of sights, sounds from around the world. Holroyd’s music includes influences from extensive travels in Africa and Asia, and ranges from intense walls of percussive drumming - as on his cult club classic 'African Drug' - to delicate atmospheric soundscapes, such as the beautiful 'Looking Back' - a track recorded for the 'Sanscapes' project to highlight the plight of the Kalahari Bushmen, with whom he collaborated with. Similarly, he also recorded the Islamic Call to Prayer at Regent's Park Mosque, writing a moving and dramatic piece around the haunting vocal by Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens).
This latest single once again sees Holroyd’s compositions crossing cultural boundaries to spotlight the unheard voices of those facing oppression overseas. The two pieces that make up the new single were originally written for a project that intended to focus on the fact that life in Afghanistan was improving for women – centering on the fact that young Afghan women were able to go to school. Due to outside influences the project never came to be, and since it’s conception, the Taliban have regained power in the country, reversing the good work that it intended to highlight.
As a result, Holroyd developed the tracks to take on a new meaning, recalibrating them as a tribute to all those across the world who’s voices are repressed and unheard. Speaking on the track, Holroyd says “I want to expand the topic because unfortunately it's not just Afghan women who are in this situation. There are numerous examples of men and women who aren't heard, Hong Kong activists, the Rohingyas, the Uighurs, the list is unfortunately pretty endless.
The pieces are both ultimately meant to be inspirational – symbolic of the hope for change in the future.”
The first of the two pieces ‘Hidden Voices Unveiled Part 1’ begins with an ambient backdrop building into a more triumphant orchestral Western classical sound, whereas the second track features guest vocals from internationally acclaimed US-based Iranian artist Mahsa Vahdat.
Vahdat is a strong advocate for women’s rights. Born in Iran, she now lives in America because of the oppression in her own country. She has fearlessly defied the bans on music and solo female singers imposed by Iranian authorities after the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. The striking and poignant track features Vahdat repeatedly singing “When will we be heard”, getting increasingly louder throughout, with the piece finishing with just her voice.
Speaking on the single she says “When I heard the music I started to sing like a painter, shaping sound and ornaments. I sang 'my voice in your sky', perhaps a deep desire to fly back to my homeland
When I listen to my voice, and the music in the mix, I felt it emerged little by little like the sun rising or moon appearing.”
Hear / share ‘Hidden Voices Unveiled’ here
Bob Holroyd has earned widespread plaudits for how much emotion and meaning he is able to convey is in his music, despite his minimalistic approach – using little to no vocals and subtle intricate instrumental arrangements. This notion has never rung more true given the subject matter of this new single. On “Hidden Voices Unveiled” Holroyd emphatically yearns for the verbal, for the opportunity for those who are unable to say what they must.
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