Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
The WireOct 5, 2012It's like being in a church of flesh, a satin abattoir, an immersive video game of obsessive love--sickly, addictive, raw. [Aug 2012, p.46]
-
Oct 5, 2012His music is of the wholly sensual, painfully physical kind, and with Held he triumphantly translates his bruised intimacy to full-length format without losing any of its skin-prickling power.
-
Oct 4, 2012The effect is one of hypnosis and seduction, a type of black magic boogie that acts as the perfect catalyst for moments of intense intimacy.
-
Sep 10, 2012Held is as sputtering as it is spartan, and as such the perfect tome to the eternal wretchedness that surrounds human need.
-
Sep 7, 2012This kind of high-emotion, omni-genre electronic music is becoming the measure of artists working without geographical or scene ties and Held is one of the best examples
-
Sep 5, 2012Held is one of those albums where the moods and methods are a constantly moving target while the overall sound, somehow, comes out unified.... This is deep stuff.
-
Aug 31, 2012The strength in Held lies in how it takes electronic modulation to a more challenging path, fully conscious over the fact that the genre itself benefits when it's more about the songs instead of serving as foreground listening.
-
Aug 31, 2012The resulting wash of sound makes for an escapist experience par excellence.
-
UncutAug 30, 2012It's very earnest. [Sep 2012, p.79]
-
Aug 30, 2012It's one of the most powerful records to be released in a very long time.
-
Aug 30, 2012In the wake of the recent bass explosion, there's no shortage of artists making similar music, but few of them are anywhere near as compelling.
-
Aug 30, 2012The pace is slow, the mood is solemn verging on the sepulchral.
-
Aug 30, 2012Held is a haunted forest worth getting lost in, but don't expect to be on your own for long.
-
Aug 30, 2012It's short (36 mins), but deep and heady, the sort of record that worms its way into your head and stays there, leaving a faint imprint on your psyche.
-
Aug 30, 2012Frustratingly, the one thing Held needs is the one thing their Tumblr-goth fans are short on: concentration.
-
Aug 30, 2012It's almost too easy to become completely enamoured with the very sounds it's employing, rather than the mood it's ostensibly trying to convey.
-
Aug 30, 2012For all its delicate psychological workings and spot-on embodiments of that feeling's senseless, aimless guilt, it's completely mesmerizing.
-
Aug 30, 2012Needless to say, it ["Nothing Here"] makes for an underwhelming close to an otherwise tenderly crafted and beautifully arranged debut album from a producer who has already proven his worth and will undoubtedly have plenty more bright moments in his future.
-
Aug 30, 2012In both musical and studio accomplishment Holy Other has come into his own as strong, individual, musical voice; Held is a strong display of this and is going to make a lot of people very happy indeed.