Human Figures – Open Window LP [RWCLTR025]

That true beauty lies in the essentiality and meticulous combination of a few elements is sometimes not just a cliché. The delicate blend of Roland CR-78, acoustic guitar and dissonant organs that intertwine in ‘Open Windows’ is a vivid demonstration of this. It is these few elements, now distant and hinted at and now close and deafening, that paint the backdrop of melancholic nostalgia where laconic whispers move the listener within the paintings that bear the sonic signature of Human Figures, the project of Daniel Lewis known also as Daniel Holt. In the 8 canvases of Open Windows the folk tradition is repainted in a more contemporary guise: the sweet and sad litanies are alternated with fast and frenetic stornelli in which the combination of tradition and experimentation constitutes the stylistic signature. The open window through which the listener has the opportunity to look out in this album does not, however, give onto a natural external panorama. It projects into an inner world where introspection and silence are the only chance to grasp its sublime beauty.

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Human Figures – Open Window LP [RWCLTR025]

Human Figures – Tabula Rasa [DC012/FRV045]

In 2021 the album “Footsteps” introduced listeners to the individual style of Human Figures. Daniel Lewis aka Daniel Holt, The Recluse or Death Posture merged raw strings with primal percussion to forge a sound of his very own. He now returns to Frigio with “Tabula Rasa¨. Here we have instrumental machine freak outs and bitter dark-wave, guitar and bass riffs that try to sound more like they arise from listening to mystical 60’s eastern inspirations. Tabula Rasa is a deep and often wistful journey into the world of Daniel Holt’s project Human Figures. Transitive and ethereal, these eight tracks effortlessly fuse elements of cold wave, post-punk, and minimal electronics culminating in a pensive opus awash in faded dreams. Another classic from the visionary artist at his finest.

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Human Figures – Tabula Rasa [DC012/FRV045]

Human Figures – After An Ordeal [POP135]

Mini-album collecting early work by Tennessee’s Human Figures. “After An Ordeal” sees HF’s Daniel Holt moving forward by looking back. These are no mere embryonic demos, these are intricate and majestic anthems of defeat from Holt.

Human Figures – After An Ordeal [POP135]

Human Figures – Footsteps LP [BFE64]

HUMAN FIGURES - Footsteps

An album of intricate minimal wave/post punk from Daniel Holt’s new project Human Figures. Human Figures is a completely new and personal avenue of expression for Holt. “Footsteps” is liminal, lonely and misty with negative space between each instrument. Each note invokes a warm hypnagogic atmosphere, tinged with fluttering anxiety. Through these eight tracks, this multifaceted musician shows another side of his art with guitars, basslines and drum machines. The mournful “Lifted Burden”, with its cowbells and echoing vocals swaddled in warm strings, sets the tone. Haunting notes are supported by a staccato beat as Holt´s melancholic vocals sail in “40 Days” before the bare brilliance of “An Open Heart.” A spread of influences is drawn on for Human Figures: the post-punk rawness of “For My Angel”, the synth romance of “Footsteps” the cold reductions of “Passing Beyond Body.” Sombre, stirring and superb.
Footsteps” was release also on cassette last year on Popnihil.

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Human Figures – Footsteps LP [BFE64]

Human Figures – Footsteps [POP127]

Popnihil returns with an album of intricate postpunk from Daniel Holt’s new project Human Figures. Besides running Ardetha Records, Holt has impressed with dungeon synth and ambient projects, his dark synth duo Vault, and a mind-melting techno 12″ for L.I.E.S. Records. But Human Figures is a completely new and personal avenue of expression. “Footsteps” features hymnal, meditative post-punk from musical polymath Daniel Holt.

Human Figures – Footsteps [POP127]