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Artist
Holy Motors
12+ albums
dream popindie popestoniashoegazealternative pop
about
Estonia's Holy Motors swirl together shoegaze, country, R&B, and psych-rock into a mirage that reflects the American dream as well as their homeland's post-Soviet history. On early releases like 2015's Heavenly Creatures/Running Water, their debt to forerunners like Mazzy Star was apparent, but their distinctive approach -- which was defined by Eliann Tulve's eloquently sleepy vocals -- soon made itself known. The band started to branch out on their evocative 2018 debut album Slow Sundown, and with 2020's desolate, twangy Horse, they established themselves as masters of mysterious yet strangely familiar music. Holy Motors formed in Tallinn, Estonia in 2013, when songwriter/guitarist Lauri Raus brought in vocalist/songwriter Tulve to complete a lineup that included guitarist Gert Gutmann and drummer Caspar Salo. Tulve, who was 16 at the time, came from a musical family and sang in a choir as a child, but had never performed in a band before. However, her voice and viewpoint were a perfect fit for the cinematic brand of dream pop the band was crafting. Taking their name from Leos Carax's hallucinatory 2012 film, Holy Motors soon began playing shows, including that year's Tallinn Music Week showcase. Merchandise's Carson Cox saw Holy Motors and introduced them to the Florida label Hidden Eye, which, along with Wharf Cat Records, released the band's 2015 debut single, Heavenly Creatures/Running Water, which was mixed by the Men's Ben Greenberg. Another single, Sleeprydr b/w Desc
