Download dead when i found her – all the way down

DEAD WHEN I FOUND HER – ALL THE WAY DOWN
Maybe Michael A. Holloway is a new name for everyone that’s not an American electro-industrial fan, but
everyone into the modern wave of the genre is familiar with him, the mastermind behind the project Dead
when I found her; the American musician hails from Portland, Oregon, and has already crafted two albums
where we find a cinematographic and noir taste where the lesson of Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly,
Numb and other heroes of the genre is integrated with a skilled production and atmospheric tendencies very
close to someone as Trent Reznor. We are talking about 2010’s Harm's way, which was well regarded at the
time by industrial connoisseurs, and the 2012’s “poppier” sophomore work Rag doll blues, both licensed by
Artoffact records, a very important Canadian label well known in the genre; now we have his third album, the
ambitious All the way down, a concept about death seen without any fantasy and sincerely as something that
is part of our lives.
The theme is not new, the muse of many kind of extreme and underground music, such as metal, industrial,
post rock/dark wave etc.; what is new is the way it’s explored, with an analytic intent that shows a maybe more
terrifying vision where we are naked in front of something that we try to avoid for all our existence. The album
has a deluxe version too, with a bonus disc called The bottom where we find some new songs, and a perfect
cover of Ministry classic You know what you are, sister to the other excellent covers made by him, like In the
air tonight by Phil Collins and Down in it by Nine inch nails; a version that is kindly suggested to have a
complete experience of the work.
What about the music? Well, let’s just say he didn’t do a turnaround, following instead his path evolving
between what was shown in the past, with sharpened weapons and a more perfected production, where we
find a songwriting that finally integrates organically pop and atmospheric elements, without forgetting the
industrial side of things.
We start with the ambient intro of Expiring Time, followed by a piano linked with dedicated electronic effects,
where Holloway’s voice is mature, always rooted in the Nivek Ogre exemplum, but now more in tune and
pleasant, adapted to the more structured music of his project, sometimes reminding us of a more fascinating
Snog; choruses and ambient parts find a common ground in a never violent movement full of textures well
placed in an emotional crescendo.
Then we have broken rhythms ala Skinny Puppy with The unclean, a kind of pastiche with loops, and
Threadbare takes us toward a minimal sound where the vocoder effects on the voice give it space between a
rhythmic crescendo full of keys, always with a full melodic scope and control; Gathering fear shows us the taste
for ambient music, but some brooding electronic effects envelop the voice of the singer, in contrast with the
ethereal sounds and anticipating ritualistic syncopated rhythms. Downpour gives us an angelic semi trip hop
affair where once again the vocoder is perfectly used.
We have new experimentations with Misericordia, where cinematographic elements and suffering “industrial
pop” pulses full of broken rhythms and piano notes are united, and where some falsely happy whistles follow
the suffering vocals; Blood lesson shows us again the love for the 80’s electro-industrial and Seeing red
surprises us with epic electronic rhythms and some corrosive riff loops, The noise above us is a dark ambient
excursion that evolves in its alien atmospheres adding a cruel voice and oppressive rhythms that perfectly
integrate the general tone of the song, before female lyric voices make their appearance, and the final At the
rest gives us ethereal sounds where minimal rhythms find their place, followed by an epic crescendo with a full
score-like scope where trumpets and choruses are the last ingredients of a perfect recipe.
The album of maturity for Holloway, who finally has found the way to integrate in a coherent way his different
souls, with songs that explores within themselves pop elements, industrial rhythms and ambient sections with
a scores-like feeling; the inspiring elements taken from the already cited bands are here, but they’re fused in an
identity now unmistakable. This is not aimed to the dancefloor, instead we have personal and journey-like
listening experience, full of different faces and evolutions. What was shown in the past is here perfected,
starting we hope a new ride for him, now master of his game after an evolution where experimentations and
tries where made; an album for any lover of intelligent and soulful electronic music.
Label: Artoffact records
Score: 9
Author: Davide Pappalardo
Website: http://fluxproject.altervista.org/dead-when-i-found-her-all-the-way-down