The Holy Pictures

David Holmes offers his long-awaited fourth solo album, 'The Holy Pictures' - an album whose incubation has lasted almost the entire length of Holmes' career.

To cut straight to Holmes' own words, "The story of this album really began on the 4th of August 1996, when my mother, Sarah Holmes, passed away. I had always wanted to make a record about my life in Belfast and all the things attached to that - family, friends, loss, love and starting a family of my own. All the stuff that shapes the person you become." Personal themes as a basis for creative work proved to be challenging though, hence 'The Holy Pictures' brewing for a period of over a decade while Holmes carried on with his eclectic and productive career to date.

In terms of its musical direction, 'The Holy Pictures' shares with Holmes' other work a rich and idiosyncratic fusion of influences. The first single, "I Heard Wonders" calls to mind The Velvet Underground, Blondie and La Düsseldorf. David teamed up with Martin Rev from Suicide to write the lyrics for this track. Threaded through the rest of the album are myriad other influences - from the Jesus and Mary Chain on "Story of the Ink", through the Soft Machine and the Beach Boys on "Melanie" and "Hey Maggy", to Daniel Johnson, Herbert Henk, early Eno and Lanois on the beautifully haunting track "The Ballad of Sarah and Jack". As well as Rev, 'The Holy Pictures' features collaborations with Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins. The album was recorded in Belfast, which, given its themes, seems only fitting.

The Holmes career that has played out in the foreground, while 'The Holy Pictures' developed in the background, started with the release of 1995's 'This Film's Crap, Let's Slash The Seats', an album that plugged immediately into what remains one of his most enduring and vital sources of musical inspiration - cinema. Further commercial and critical acclaim came with 1997's 'Let's Get Killed' and 2000's 'Bow Down To The Exit Sign', followed by 2003's 'David Holmes Presents the Free Association', the latter leading to a hectic spell on the road with the Free Association. After that, work commenced in earnest on 'The Holy Pictures'.

Alongside these releases came a successful partnership with director Steven Soderbergh, resulting in the soundtracks to 'Out of Sight', and all three 'Ocean's films - 'Ocean's 11', '12' and '13'. Holmes has also scored an Apple iPhone advertisement featuring Robert Downey Jr and directed by David Fincher ('Seven', 'Fight Club'). He also scored along side Leo Abrahams the winner of the Camera D'Or at the 2009 Cannes film festival 'Hunger' directed by the great artist and Turner prize winner, Steve McQueen.