whole tommy’s Jess Holt takes us track-by-track by her intimate, unfiltered, and brutally uncooked debut album ‘bruises’ – a grungy and gritty coming-of-age document that aches in and out because the Sydney-based artist bares her full self, scars and all.
for followers of Ethel Cain, Wolf Alice, Moist Leg, Julien Baker
Stream: “Plus One” – whole tommy
Not into microdosing, need the entire quantity. Name in a distraction, ’trigger I might do with out the comedown…
Intimate, unfiltered, and unapologetically intense, bruises is an simple – and irresistible – beast of an album.
However earlier than diving into whole tommy’s debut LP, it’s necessary to grasp why singer/songwriter Jess Holt named herself ‘whole tommy’ within the first place – and much more importantly, what that moniker means to her.
Beforehand making sun-kissed, dance-friendly indie pop music below the alias Essie Holt, the Melbourne-born, Sydney-based artist took a pointy left flip earlier this 12 months when she reintroduced herself with a brand new title and a darkish, shoegaze-inspired post-punk sound.
“My mother and father had been gonna name me Thomas if I used to be a boy, and I’ve at all times been a little bit of a tomboy and thought it suited me higher than Jess,” she explains. “And ‘whole’ – as a result of I’m obsessive about symmetry, so I wanted the syllables to match ‘tommy.’”
“For me, it means a variety of one thing, and that’s what I’m – all or nothing. Zero moderation right here.”
This sentiment holds very true for holt’s first full-length album as whole tommy: A daring, brash, brutally trustworthy coming-of-age document, the aptly titled bruises aches in and out as Holt bares her full self – scars and all – in twelve impassioned, weak, and uncooked songs.
So what if we’re late to begin the day
Hey I like the stuff you say
Once we’re bare below covers
Closed all of the shutters
You bought me coming undone
I wanna strive in your plus one
It’s how we break the strain
Each time we get it on
I wanna make you scream till you —
– “Plus One,” whole tommy
Launched November 29th, 2024 by way of [PIAS] Recordings, bruises is a wide ranging triumph of a debut, in addition to a spellbinding introduction to Jess Holt’s whole tommy.
“whole tommy began after I moved cities, got here out, and frolicked correctly attending to know myself,” she says. “Elements of my mind acquired unlocked that I’d by no means been in a position to faucet into earlier than, and with that I rapidly acquired to be taught rather a lot about who I used to be. I partied a lot with new queer associates, fell in love, made errors, and wrote music to make sense of all of it.”
Holt first ‘launched’ whole tommy on the prime of this 12 months, and has spent the previous eleven months dazzling audiences the world over by an exhilarating array of dreamy and dramatic different rock reveries. Her uncooked, scuzzy, emotionally charged guitar-driven music has been hailed as a neo-bedroom pop return by some, and as an homage to grunge-era legends like Rubbish and (her private heroes) Gap by others; no matter you name it, there’s no denying the truth that the sound she and producer Mark Zito (of Fractures) have crafted collectively has achieved its job to get individuals speaking and listening.
For Holt, bruises is brutal.
A lot of its songs come from a very tough interval of pressure, turmoil, progress, and self-discovery, capturing the friction she felt inside as she skilled – or reasonably, endured – a number of main life modifications, roughly all of sudden.
“This document is assortment of songs from the final three years of my life, about some big modifications I went by, like shifting cities, ending a long-term relationship, popping out as queer, it goes on… On the time I by no means stopped to understand how particular, but additionally painful a few of these moments had been. Scripting this document helped me course of all the pieces,” Holt tells Atwood Journal.
“I don’t suppose I set out understanding I needed to make a document initially, however as I began writing and telling these tales, it turns on the market was rather a lot to cowl,” she provides. “I began to get the heart of the document and sonic imaginative and prescient from songs like ‘Dropping Out,’ ‘microdose,’ and ‘REAL.’ Then after I began desirous about taking part in these songs stay and the way I needed it to be a rock present, I began writing songs like ‘SPIDER’ and ‘Plus One.’ The ultimate items of the document had been the quieter moments which helped give it mild and shade – like ‘ribs’ and ‘Shark Assaults.’”
Holt candidly describes bruises as scuzzy, gritty, and dirty.
The album’s evocative one-word title got here from a dialog with a buddy.
“We had been speaking about going by life and leaving little bruises on your self and different individuals,” she remembers. “It’s part of rising up and navigating issues, I assume. However this document is about the entire little scuffs I left on others and myself throughout this time.”
Bruises harm, and so they present – the bodily ones linger on the pores and skin, simply because the emotional ones stay on the guts. So far as introductions are involved, Holt feels this document not solely stays true to its title as an expression of interior aching, but additionally provides an genuine depiction of her personal humanity.
“Lyrically, it’s probably the most trustworthy and upfront I’ve ever been,” she admits. “I finished caring concerning the ramifications of individuals I do know listening to the songs and reacting a sure approach; I simply type of wrote for myself and expressed myself with none filtering.”
Consequently, bruises is ruthlessly and relentlessly uncooked – a high quality that makes its songs all of the extra alluring, all-consuming, and irresistible.
Highlights abound on the turbulent journey from the album’s pressing, emotionally charged opener “ADELINE” to its tender nearer “Shark Assaults.” Holt spills her soul twelve instances over as she aches overtly and unapologetically, treating her audiences to a nonstop slew of heated alt-rock eruptions and impassioned upheavals.
“microdose,” initially launched as whole tommy’s debut single this previous February, is an intoxicating three-minute head-spin: A hazy, hypnotic, multi-layered reverie that hits laborious by emotional vocals, intense Strokes-y drums, and angsty guitars.
“Dropping Out,” the artist’s heated second single, is a dreamy, dramatic alt-rock upheaval of intimate and epic proportions – a much-needed confrontation and cathartic launch all of sudden that sees an empowered and energized Holt calling out somebody who wronged her deeply. “False pretence / you suppose you bought away with it,” she sings, sporting her coronary heart on her sleeve as she breaks right into a heavy, biting, and brutally trustworthy refrain:
You may inform everybody that you just’re shedding out
Downplay prefer it was only one mistake
Replenish till you break down in rage
You retain saying you’re sorry
You swear you didn’t imply
the sh*t that you just stated
Wishing it will all go away
Wish to see me on the weekend to say
Sorry, but it surely’s not sufficient
“‘Dropping Out’ is a giant one for me,” Holt says, citing it as considered one of her private favourite whole tommy songs. “I signed an NDA about this factor that occurred to me, which I used to be type of silenced in speaking about. And on this track it’s a bit, iykyk…”
Whereas she will be able to’t go into particulars (for authorized causes) concerning the occasions that transpired, Holt elaborates on the track’s creation: “Somebody I revered utterly broke my belief and left me paralysed for a short while. I spent a variety of time going by the motions and feeling actually thrashed about. I’d delayed writing about this time for a couple of months, however as quickly as I began all the pieces was tremendous visceral and the lyrics shaped in about fifteen minutes.”
Further standouts embrace the mushy, heartfelt confessional “ribs” (one other “actually particular” Holt favourite), the exhilarating pop/rock anthem “SODA,” the grungy rager “SPIDER,” and the feverish and infectiously catchy sex-fueled singalong “Plus One.”
Holt lets her innermost bruises shine on “REAL,” a weak, visceral, and completely seductive eruption born out of that post-breakup dizziness “the place you’re dipping out and in of actuality,” as she describes it. “It’s the whirlwind of irrational ideas you’ve gotten about whether or not your resolution was proper, and the guilt of breaking somebody’s coronary heart. It’s the reminiscing, the harm, the love that stays for some time after. However finally, understanding you probably did the proper factor for your self.”
Confirmed up empty-handed
to your home on a weekend
It’s a nasty transfer, child I’m unhealthy information
Ought to’ve seen it coming, was an extended shot
I’ll exit if I acquired
In the case of doing one thing I remorse
So I assume, I’m filled with it
Please say that you really want me again
‘Trigger I would like you again
I do know I’m good for one thing,
however was providing you with nothing
Put vitality into strangers,
we’ve acquired all of the pages
We rolled collectively, we stated eternally
However what the f* does that imply?
– “REAL,” whole tommy
Whereas “Dropping Out” and “ribs” are her two favourite songs at present, Holt has various lyrical highlights from all around the album.
“There’s a line in ‘Shark Assaults’ which is me to a tee: ‘Fearful of getting in shark assaults, dwelling as an insomniac. Reality is saying all the pieces’s positive, understanding that it’s our deadly crime’. ‘Trigger generally after I’m in hassle, I don’t ask for assist. Like I’d actually be in a shark assault, and I wouldn’t wave my hand for assist. Perhaps I’d now although. And stay, I like the road in ‘REAL’ that goes ‘We stated eternally, however what the f*** does that imply!?’”
Finally, bruises shines a hopeful, therapeutic mild on our personal interior darkness.
No matter modifications or upheavals we may be going by in the meanwhile, whole tommy’s music is a passionate reminder that we’re not alone – and that we’ll make it by. Aching although it might be – and unapologetically so – this debut album is a cathartic, and actually charming, launch.
“I hope listeners really feel empowered to take dangers in life and push themselves to discover a path that makes them glad,” Holt shares.
“Even when that may be laborious within the brief time period. That’s what I’ve realised – processing all of these items and never regretting a factor, as a result of I cast a path for myself that lets me stay authentically and do issues the way in which I need to do them.”
Expertise the complete document by way of our beneath stream, and peek inside whole tommy’s bruises with Atwood Journal as Jess Holt takes us track-by-track by the music and lyrics of her debut album!
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Stream: ‘bruises’ – whole tommy
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ADELINE
The document was really just about achieved after I wrote this track. I used to be in Melbourne with my buddy Mark and my spouse CP, ending off another tracks. It was near the top of the day and felt impressed to write down one thing recent. “ADELINE” is an alias for my youthful self, and this track is a letter to her.
REAL
I’m SO happy with this track and it’s my favorite on the document. It’s a couple of break up and the warped actuality you reside in for some time after leaving a long run relationship.
Dropping Out
Lyrically that is probably the most straight up, brutal monitor on bruises. I cherished experimenting with some extra talky model vocals within the writing of this, and having an enormous rocky refrain that type of hits you unexpectedly.
SODA
I wrote this one with my spouse, virtually 3 years in the past now. It was the primary whole tommy track written really. ‘Til the social gathering’s misplaced its SODA’ is such a enjoyable lyric that I like.
Ghost
This was written in Berlin with my stunning buddy Stef. I had a variety of enjoyable with auto tune on this one, one thing I normally don’t take pleasure in however for this track it simply labored. It got here collectively so rapidly, Stef has this superb approach of capturing magic. If we’re ever writing and the track isn’t working, we simply transfer on. We barely touched it from the primary day demo we had! I’m very sentimental about Ghost.
ribs
I’m additionally so happy with this one. Written a couple of buddy going by a very laborious time, and me wanting to assist however not feeling like I had the flexibility to. It closes off aspect A of the document so fantastically.
microdose
This was my first single for tommy, and it actually kick-started all the pieces. This was a giant track for unlocking the tommy sound, and Mark (my producer) and I felt all the pieces make sense once we wrote this one. Dan Carey combined it, and took it to a complete different stage.
SPIDER
The heaviest track on the document that’s SO enjoyable in our stay present. Impressed by a spider on the wall in my studio, which then become an analogy for a clingy buddy. The spider stayed your entire time I used to be scripting this track, after which as soon as it was completed – the spider left.
Plus One
A track about intercourse. I used to be listening to a variety of Bikini Kill and Gap on the time.
Amsterdam
I used to be in London, and flew in that morning for a session. I’d had an enormous evening in Amsterdam the evening earlier than – I ate an area cake and acquired approach too excessive. I spent the entire day strolling round on my own, principally having a good time, but additionally having a loopy existential second. I acquired into the studio and wrote about all of it. It’s undoubtedly the silliest monitor on the document.
Girlfriend
I wrote this track after I was very excessive on codeine after having my tonsils eliminated. It was written across the similar time as SODA. I used to be impressed by Tegan and Sara’s ‘Nearer’ – I like that track a lot and needed to seize that type of lesbian vitality.
Shark Assaults
I added this track to the document within the closing week that I needed to submit it for vinyl urgent, and now I couldn’t think about this physique of labor with out it. I wrote it about irrational fears and the entire little issues that hold me up at evening.
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an album by whole tommy