• E.G. Holmes

  • Composers: E G Holmes & Timothy Reid

    Lyrics: E G Holmes

    Arrangement: Timothy Reid

    Mix/Master: Gilbert Norum

    Vocals: E G Holmes

  • Release Date: 12.12.23

    UPC: 655469984332

    ISRC: USPXQ2312121

  • "I wrote the music first and then tried to reverse-engineer the lyrics to meet the mood. Hopefully, it is a song that will be cathartic when someone is feeling very low. 😭

    I approached Timothy Reid who is based in Osaka Japan for help getting the song made. Timothy is a world-class Guitarist and Songwriter and gave me the gift of joining my project. He had some ideas on the arrangement and made a couple of nice changes to the composition. He also created new instrumental tracks at his Osaka studio and provided bed-tracks and seps.

    Initially, I did not want to be the singer on this project hoping instead for a woman vocalist but after some time decided to reconsider and get this one over the finish line.

    I put the project out for a Sound Engineer and received a great Mix/Master from Gilbert Norum (Mexico) who also reintroduced my bongos from the original idea tracks. All tracks were kept in our mutual virtual studio at KOMPOZ.com" - E G Holmes

  • Maybe I haven’t listened to enough E.G. Holmes, but the bits of catalog I’ve been exposed to are usually more straightforward rock/pop/adult contemporary, and the occasional elegant blues. However, with his latest release through Bongo Boy Records – “Pieces That Lay Broken” – Holmes dabbles in something spacey, atmospheric, and grazing comfortably alongside world music. Is this change a success, or perhaps dangerously off brand? Let’s talk about it.

    Wait. Who does what?

    E.G. Holmes collaborated globally with exceptional artists like Timothy Reid, who helped advance the composition, and received mixing/mastering assistance from Gilbert Norum. Holmes, initially preferring a female vocalist, reconsidered, lending his world-wise voice to this airy, electronic excursion.

    So…what does it sound like?

    “Pieces That Lay Broken” is built on mechanical, worldly beats, glistening synth washes, and an almost chiming piano arpeggio – like little dots of light circling the song’s vortex of softly high frequencies.

    And Holmes’ deeper, character-laden, poetically raspy voice anchors these higher, wispy washes to Earth – the song floats, but Holmes’ voice keeps it spinning just above the grass.

  • Although the song’s marching mechanics may portend this repetition until the end, the music begins showing moments of strength; it morphs and flexes its muscles, inserting guitars and heavier, more pronounced chord changes. It begins making bolder statements, veering slightly off its presumed path and towards something more heartfelt. More human.

    “Pieces That Lay Broken,” with its world music shake and Holmes’ whole-throat roughness, invokes a Peter Gabriel vibe; something that pits mankind against environs often untamed, but never insurmountable.

    But is it good?

    Oh, yes. With a beat that resembles a man’s tenacious nature to walk through obstacles of stone with a hard-edged heart, and higher frequencies resembling his innate, drizzling softness, “Pieces That Lay Broken” is a tribal, electronic effort cleverly reflecting man’s necessary, simultaneous polarities. 

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    BELOW: Listen to E.G. Holmes and check him out on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, and many more popular purchasing/streaming platforms. Please support E.G. Holmes by visiting him on his website, and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing his music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music.

  • I’m not sure how he does it, but E.G. Holmes seems to revel in the art of gathering small sonic details, different tones, restrained textures, space and ambience and bringing them all together to create his songs. Last year’s single Warm was fashioned similarly through weight or impact, volume or velocity, but through gently bringing together chiming, and indeed charming, musical strands, and so it is here.

    Pieces That Lay Broken doesn’t make its present felt through anything as course or unimaginative as puch or power. Instead, it beguiles the listener with fine detail and finessed sounds – a gentle groove built on understated drums, shimmering guitars that gradually build to include more robust but never imposing drives, pulsing, punctuating yet sparse bass lines and that wonderfully relaxed, warm yet slightly world-weary vocal of his.

    Too many artists throw everything they can think of at the musical space they are given to work in. The real charm of E.G. Holmes’ music in general, and this song in particular, is the fact that he is merely harnessing and cocooning the sound of the world around us rather than adding to it.

  • Space! It may be the final frontier when it comes to music. Space lets the light in; it allows all manner of atmospheres to be conjured up, pool and percolate in the gaps between one fading vocal line and the next, after the lingering of a note and the ushering in the next. It is what makes songs, at least songs like this, more than the sum of their parts.

    And when he does go for the big lift, when he breaks out the guitar and stands in the spotlight, his solo is short, sharp, shockingly, great, restrained, and to the point. Too many players build in solo parts that have nothing to do with the song they feature in as if they have welded two ideas together that have no truck existing side by side. Here, the solo seems to emerge out of the melody, has its day in the sun and then threads its way back through the song as it heads towards its final destination.

    E.G. Holmes is a deft writer and a delicate deliverer of songs. But we knew that already, didn’t we?

    For more information go to Bongo Boy Records

  • E G Holmes - Pieces That Lay Broken

  • Timothy Debuted on the UK instrumental Rock scene with 'Electric Zen' his first CD containing demo material in 2010. The CD showcased his unique blend of interesting chord voicings and virtuoso technique. He began gaining notoriety within guitar & instrumental circles and was awarded the 1st place at the Guitar Tornado contest held in Osaka, Japan. He released his second solo album 'Hybrid Sonic' in 2015, Followed by 'Absolute Magnitude' in 2016 and `Peace of Mind` in 2017. Genre: Rock Fusion Active area: Japan

  • UPC 655469752818  05.10.22

    Warm by E.G. Holmes feat Dave Edwards

    Composer: E G Holmes
    Lyrics: E G Holmes and Dave Edwards

    Self Published

    E G Holmes Band

    E G Holmes - Keyboard
    Timothy Reid - Guitars
    Dave Edwards - Vocals
    Steve Johnson - Bass
    Mark Miller - Drums

    Produced by Bill Babcock

  • Time to Rest Single Release 3.9.21 | UPC 688130658041 | ISRC; USPXQ0309001

  • Digital Single from the Upcoming Album(4.2.21) Time To Rest

    E G Holmes Band... Guitarz: Rob Ciccone, Scott Whedon, Mauro Clerici, Jeff Chalpan, Greg Rombal, Bill Barret, Manuel Angel Gonzalez, Johnny Liar.   Bass: Raul Del Valle, Matt Kaprelian, Bjorn Pehrson. Keyboards: Raul Rodriguez Jr, E G Holmes, Rick Berls. Drums: Raul Rodriguez Jr, Rick Berls, Mark Miller. Violin: Enrico Nichelatti. Soprano Sax: Ettore Lopinto. Vocals: David Vanden Enden, E G Holmes, Inge Van Hulle, Rick Ellis, John Ruddle. Backing Vocals: Raul Rodriguez Jr, Carolyn Hobza Grogan, Jackie Cespedes Molinary, Rob Ciccone

  • 1. Hot Blooded 4 U
    Music & Lyrics by: E G Holmes
    Featuring: David Vanden Enden
    Produced by: FIG Sound

    2. Road Too Long
    Music & Lyrics by: E G Holmes
    Featuring: E G Holmes
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    3. Mysterious
    Music by: E G Holmes
    Lyrics by: Casia
    Featuring & V Fit: Karl Knutson
    Produced by: Rick Berls

    4. Jamba Jambalaya
    Music by: E G Holmes
    Lyrics by: Casia
    Featuring: David Vanden Enden
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    5. The Rumors
    Music & Lyrics by: E G Holmes
    Featuring: David Vanden Enden
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    6. Time to Rest
    Music by: E G Holmes
    Lyrics by: Darlene Papalardo
    Featuring: E G Holmes
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    7. Cool Changes
    Music by: E G Holmes
    Lyrics by: Rick Ellis
    Featuring: Rick Ellis
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

  • 8. Whiskey Joe's
    Music by: E G Holmes
    Lyrics by: E G Holmes & John Ruddle
    Featuring: John Ruddle
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    9. Wash My Soul in the Summer Rain
    Music & Lyrics by: E G Holmes
    Featuring: E G Holmes
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    10. Busted
    Music by: E G Holmes
    Lyrics by: Ray De Meriden & E G Holmes
    Featuring: David Vanden Enden
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    11. Pills & Chardonnay
    Music & Lyrics by: E G Holmes
    Featuring: David Vanden Enden
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    12. Plains of my Heart
    Music by: E G Holmes
    Lyrics by: Emmett Harris
    Featuring: Inge Van Hulle
    Produced by: FIG Sounds

    13. Would You Stay if I Write You a Love Song
    Music & Lyrics by: E G Holmes
    Featuring: David Vanden Enden
    Produced by: Bill Babcock

    14. Tonight Everything Changes
    Music by: E G Holmes.
    Lyrics by: Casia.
    Featuring: David Vanden Enden.
    Produced by: FIG Sounds