HOLDING ABSENCE

Everything you need to know about HOLDING ABSENCE’S

album ‘THE GREATEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE’

by vocalist Lucas Woodland

THE ALBUM IS NAMED AFTER A GRACIE FIELDS SONG

The story goes that my Great-Uncle recorded a cover of ‘The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’ many moons ago. Upon hearing this from my Nan, I just felt like it was too special to not pay homage to! Sometimes I realise how weird it was to name an album after a 90-year-old track, but in all honesty, timelessness is something we really try to achieve with our music, so it is very fitting.

THE ALBUM WAS RECORDED JUST BEFORE LOCKDOWN

We entered the studio in February 2020, and everything was going fine. It wasn’t until maybe the second week of the session when we got word of Italy going into lockdown that we realised just how big a thing COVID actually was! By the time we’d left the studio, there were only about 2-3 days of normality before lockdown hit. It’s really odd to think we went into the studio one day, and then everything was different when we stepped out... But luckily, I truly believe that the pandemic had no mental effect on the songs or the recordings, which I’m really grateful for.

MY SISTER SINGS ON A TRACK

We always knew we wanted a duet on the album, more as a challenge to us as songwriters than anything else. But when push came to shove, we realised that we didn’t really want to cheapen the song with a great big “FEATURING X MUSICIAN FROM X BAND” on the title, and that’s where the idea of getting my sister came in. I’ve spent my whole life singing with her, and it just felt right! Though it was very stressful for me on the day - making sure that we did right by both her and the band - I’m very proud of the end result! I’d love to get more guest features on songs in the coming years too, by the way. It just didn’t feel right for this particular song to have anybody but her!

REDDIT HELPED INSPIRE SOME OF THE LYRICS

We knew we wanted a spoken female voice to run throughout the album, but we just weren’t sure what it was she was going to say... I decided one night to go on r/askreddit and see if there was a “what was the greatest mistake of your life?” thread, and the rest is history! I paraphrased three of them into poems, and those are what you hear the voice say on ‘Drugs & Love’, ‘Die Alone’ and ‘Phantoms’.

DAN WELLER SMASHED IT

When I look back at the whole of this process, I really deem Dan to be the biggest difference. We’d written songs with him previously (‘Like A Shadow’, ‘Monochrome’, ‘Gravity’ and ‘Birdcage’) but having him in the studio to inspire and encourage us for ‘TGMOML’ was just a completely next level experience. It really taught us the importance of having a magical connection with a producer, especially one who believes in you the way that Dan believes in, HA! P

Holding Absence’s album ‘The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’ is out now.

Stand Atlantic have teamed up with nothing,nowhere. for their new single ‘Deathwish’. The track sees vocalist and guitarist Bonnie Fraser issue a reminder to “not be a little bitch to other people’s opinions and trust yourself instead, you’ll be better than ever.”

A new hip-hop and rock festival is launching in London, ALT+LDN. Taking over Clapham Common on 30th August, the event will host sets from Playboi Carti, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Yachty, Architects (pictured), The Kid Laroi, Lil Skies, Ski Mask The Slump God, Smokepurpp, Mario Judah, Bexey, Sleep Token, Princess Nokia, Bob Vylan and more.

Willow has teamed up with Travis Barker for her new single ‘t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l’. The track is the first taste of an upcoming fulllength, due out this summer, and a confident opening step into a whole new sound. “I am so grateful for this tune because it was created in such an introspective time (during the first couple months of quarantine),” she says. “It was the song that proved to me that I needed to let go of the insecurities I had about making a project of this genre.”