Truly Holy: Beatrix83

Hand prints have been deliberately left all over the clay; it’s covered in strange misshapes that are yet to be filed down.

Each song seems designed to negate itself. Lush guitar work sits at odds to the neutered, almost bored vocals; icy instrumentals turn into grating, nightmarish bouts of industrial rhythm; and lyrics deal primarily with contrasts, fluctuating between images of great beauty and muttered demands. Of course, this contrarian brand of roughness means the record is slightly one-note, and the tone established by lead track ‘The Pond’ remains largely untouched throughout. Truly Holy pick a single point on the horizon and run towards it, but their dogged determination could also be interpreted as a kind of artistic bravery.

Certainly, they are nothing if not original. The EP’s sprawling, eight-minute title track has a searing, sloppy energy entirely of its own, while the similarly lengthy closer ‘There Is A Rhythm’ combines touches of sun-blasted Australian gothic with jazzy solos.

Distinct and colossal, Beatrix83 is a lurching, bow-legged giant of a record; one that practically demands witnesses.