Holly Humberstone shares latest track ‘Sleep Tight’
Indie-pop singer-songwriter and BRITs Rising Star winner Holly Humberstone delivers as reliably as ever.
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Lyrically Holly Humberstone’s latest single Sleep Tight sees her reflecting on memories of a friendship turned into something more and flirting with the ideas of complicated friendships, youth, uncertainty and freedom. Speaking so carefully about intimacy and how delicate each friendship and relationship can be.
The way she often presents the hooks in her songs bolsters the sentiment of her lyrics, the sound world being created somehow perfectly to reflect the feelings that she's conveying, giving the listener somewhere to escape to where all that is, is her song and its feelings.
While the hooks are injected all throughout the song, as always she makes sure her honesty and storytelling prowess shine through, certainly not at the expense of the excellent hooks and energetic pop melodies she crafts.
The instrumentation of the song is typical of Holly’s work; featuring lush arrangements of synths, atmospheric guitars, prominent bass, dynamic drums and layers of vocals creating a vast soundscape to get lost in.
In particular, one element of great importance in her songs is the use of synths — and very jagged, almost abrasive sounding lead synths at that. She uses them to great effect in different situations: here her use of a certain lead synth in the chorus, sounding staticky and tense, wraps around your head and helps develop the atmosphere Holly is so good at creating.
These kinds of uses of electronic as well as acoustic sounds give her music a unique texture, one that helps foster great emotion and works in tandem with her self-reflective lyrics, giving her a unique and identifiable sound. Backing vocals from The 1975’s Matty Healy only adds wanted texture, weaving in and around and complimenting her own vocals seamlessly.
The drum sounds vary, from restrained programmed electronic drums to more acoustic, full-bodied drums between the verses and chorus to help facilitate a shift in dynamics throughout.
Attention to detail like this is but one aspect of what makes Holly’s music so easy to listen to again and again. Another is her honesty in her songwriting and her relatability. Personally, I think nothing exemplifies this more than leading into the bridge where we hear her voice momentarily dip slightly out of key. Details like this are often so easily edited out or ‘fixed’ in modern music, but here I have so much respect for the choice of keeping the vocal as it is and preserving the delicate delivery she gives while tending to the narrative at hand.
Brief but effective, the bridge strips back to her vocal and an acoustic guitar, creating a great contrast where it’s almost just Holly and her thoughts (but catchy thoughts) before the introduction of a new chord pricks our ears prior to the final chorus.
Overall the song is great, personal yet anthemic, as she is so good at being. Flavours of previous work are present like Falling Asleep At The Wheel and her previous collaboration with Matty Healy, Please Don’t Leave Just Yet, while also managing to feel excellently fresh and expansive.
With only hints and occasional mentions of a debut album from Holly, there are only two courses of action: to play the song on repeat and to… Sleep Tight.
