2008 Woodie Awards
Hold on Love softer sounds
By Chelsea Dubois
in OpinionIssue date: 4/3/08 Section: Opinion
The focus is on softer sounds, to calm nerves and maybe even allow thinking. The Toms River acoustic group Hold on Love presented itself to me, and even though the name is a little clichéd for an all-acoustic duo, the group has potential.
The guitar sounds beautiful, and the group draws you in with two enticing voices. The male and female voices interact in a way that harmonizes a sense of lost love and agony. After a first listen, I found myself not liking the male-female contrast, but when I put my headphones on and listened to the track "Davey Jones' Locker," the dual really hit home for me, and the song became more personal even though the emo lyrics are not often my style of listening.
I have discovered emotion in music is about the whole picture, not a label. The production quality on the Hold on Love music also is amazing for a local group.
Hold's Rico has his hands in studio work with other bands as well as his duet with Justine. The couple has much of the same style as Bright Eyes and Esoteric Poet. The only thing I was not happy with is the way each song begins similarly. This bordered on whinny on a few occasions but over all was good.
Hold on Love does not have an album release but the music is on Myspace. Take a listen.
Hold on Love receives:
•Creativity: 23-different, and the guitar and picking are beautiful and small sounds.
Make a difference.
•Lyrics: 24-the lyrics are emotional, which brings out passion. That is something to not complain about.
•Flow: 21-lost some points here because the music was a little repetitive.
•Originality: 23-this is a hard thing to do in this genre and the group pulls it off because of the different sound in the voices. They blend.
Hold on Love receives a total of 91 or an A-
Go look at www.myspace.com/yayforfelicia.
Contact me at celestal_0018@hotmail.com.
The guitar sounds beautiful, and the group draws you in with two enticing voices. The male and female voices interact in a way that harmonizes a sense of lost love and agony. After a first listen, I found myself not liking the male-female contrast, but when I put my headphones on and listened to the track "Davey Jones' Locker," the dual really hit home for me, and the song became more personal even though the emo lyrics are not often my style of listening.
I have discovered emotion in music is about the whole picture, not a label. The production quality on the Hold on Love music also is amazing for a local group.
Hold's Rico has his hands in studio work with other bands as well as his duet with Justine. The couple has much of the same style as Bright Eyes and Esoteric Poet. The only thing I was not happy with is the way each song begins similarly. This bordered on whinny on a few occasions but over all was good.
Hold on Love does not have an album release but the music is on Myspace. Take a listen.
Hold on Love receives:
•Creativity: 23-different, and the guitar and picking are beautiful and small sounds.
Make a difference.
•Lyrics: 24-the lyrics are emotional, which brings out passion. That is something to not complain about.
•Flow: 21-lost some points here because the music was a little repetitive.
•Originality: 23-this is a hard thing to do in this genre and the group pulls it off because of the different sound in the voices. They blend.
Hold on Love receives a total of 91 or an A-
Go look at www.myspace.com/yayforfelicia.
Contact me at celestal_0018@hotmail.com.
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