Listening to Hollow Sinatra‘s music it doesn’t take long to realize that he isn’t someone to sit still in life. Mixing punk, rap, noise, and electronic influences into an experimental mélange, the Atlanta-based artist is a musical fidgeter, jumping from sound to sound with only his neon-bright energy remaining a constant. Naturally, when lockdown arrived during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, he got to work on a new project aiming to capture the mood of a world turned upside down.
The result is Rapture, a six song EP bursting at the seams with ideas and missives from a period of time in which uncertainty and fear ran rife. “False Prophet” taps into the murky world of disinformation and astrology capitalists, coming on like The Prodigy plugged directly into the timeline. “Crisis,” meanwhile, weaves audio from coronavirus news reports into a psychedelic R&B workout and showcases the breadth of the Hollow Sinatra range. The overall vibe of Rapture, however, is that of a wide-eyed stare, perhaps best summed up by “I Am Not OK With This” and “New Day,” both of which channel a Stooges-esque desire for chaos and freedom.
Speaking to The FADER about Rapture, Hollow said: “This project is a snapshot of my brain during the beginning of quarantine. I’m not gonna act like this is my grand opus, not even the slightest bit, more like a microscope into my brain from a couple months back. A different event happened every week for a good couple months, as if someone was shuffling the cards of the world.
“As an artist it is my job to reflect on times like these with or without a cool detachment. I’m not stating my political viewpoints, this is just me saying “Hey there’s a continuation of shit that’s happening right under our noses how can we not smell it ?” I want the listener to take a piece of me with them and shove me in their back pocket. Reflect on everything that’s said without a deep analysis. Develop your own truths cause I’ve got mine. This isn’t a snobby middle finger to anyone nor is this another airheaded tape with punk themes of youthful rebellion, with hints of prescribed optimism. This is me taking the seat of the observer and observing the events of the year that led us to the point we’re currently in, not calling it bad, not calling it good, because we all kill, we all still and we all bleed.”
Rapture is Hollow Sinatra’s second EP of 2020 following January’s Black Takes. Last year he dropped debut album What Are You Looking for in Tomorrow?.
Hollow Sinatra’s Rapture EP is lockdown music for restless souls
Hollow Sinatra