Holy Forrest is an alternative rock band currently based in Sydney but is as international as you can get (via Chandigarh, among others); their music is cemented in the good ol’ shoegaze and alt-rock movements of the early 90s (late 80s to be fair). This was a time after disco and before garage rock – a time when obscuring the clarity of the music that came before it was the flavour of the day (obligatory thank you to My Bloody Valentine). Holy Forrest take this sound and, well, run with it for five tracks. The result is a short but welcome look back to the past.

The first seconds of opener ‘Whirl’ are all you need to hear to understand the sonic blueprint here. Huge, washy cymbals, thick guitars that seem to be layered until it takes an hour to scroll through a DAW session, and vocals drenched in delay and reverb. If you haven’t heard much in this space, this sort of presentation will wow you, because it’s such so big. ‘Strawberry Jam’ takes a much groovier approach with some very cool distorted bass (that tone is spicy) before the jangly guitars kick in. This seems a bit more inspired by post-punk, especially how raw the vocals are. ‘Cumulo’ has a strange little passage where the drums totally dry up and cut through the mix like a knife; it’s not jarring per se, but it is a rather interesting choice. A standout tune here is the despondent ‘Difference’, which sounds like Portishead and The Cranberries collaborated on making a funeral dirge. Everything comes together exceptionally well on this tune. The EP ends with ‘IN2U’, a pretty straight-ahead alt-rock track and a relatively easy-to-enjoy little song. This EP is primarily an exploration of a sound that defined a certain niche of music history, and that is the very thing it does right. Worth the ear-time.

Listen here.