aaamusic | On 22, May 2013

If you haven’t ever heard of Hollis Brown, and approach their music with no knowledge of the band at all, you could also think they are from the 70s and you wouldn’t be that mistaken.

Active from 2008, the band looks back at the classic tradition of rock music, they sunk their hands into the evergreen of the genre and came up with well crafted songs that play on the borderline of blues and rock’n rool and hint to great names such as Bob Dylan and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The band released their debut EP ‘Nothing & The Famous No One’ in 2012 and published the full-length album ‘Ride on the train’ early this year.

The first track,  ‘Ride on the train’ has the peculiar voice timbre that brings back nice old memories of the best rock songwriters. A happy and cheery but not cheesy tune that doesn’t grow old or tiring after several loops, nothing too pretentious  but simple and effective. ‘Faith & Love’ is a quieter ballad with touching lyrics and a catchy refrain that stick with you like a thin ice pin in your brain. If you find yourselves humming it unwillingly, don’t be scared it’s the side effect; welcome the joyce of having, for once, a great piece of music stuck in your brain. ‘Walk on the water‘ is a more aggressive tune: a hoarse voice and a biting riff do the trick.

The quartet, made up by the voice and guitar of Mike Montali, songwriter as well, the guitar of Jon Bonilla, the bass of Mike Wosczyk and the perussions of Mike Graves, is from New York, more specifically from Queens. The band will leave for a five dates tour, at the end of the month, to promote their new album.

★★★★★

Monica Guerrasio