Herndon, Holly – “Platform” – [4AD / Beggars Group]

Naysayer   9/26/2016   12-inch, A Library

Holy holly cowabunga! If this is the future of “pop” music as many are saying, let me in and get the hell out of the way while I push you down. Herndon hails from CCRMA out of Stanford University. A composer, electronic musician and sound artist, “Platform” is Herndon’s second album. It comes with much critical praise, and well deserved, but possibly not a huge listenership, unfortunately. New is difficult for folks. Ten compositions, eight with lyrics one of which is a spoken word ASMR type experience (“Lonely At the Top”), two instrumentals. Production values are supreme. Tweaked twisted turned around glitch click blurp electronic madness. Lyrics may start out smooth but become blasted, distorted, split apart. Sound bites bytes spin pppunch in and speed out quickly. Vocals get distorted. Electronic beats go on then explode. Herndon’s child like voice may be punctuated by shards of glass of metal bits scraping. Breathing. Feet pounding. The future is now and it is full of information that fills our heads, ears and hearts. Quality.