The link between music and the visual arts is a profound one. Although it deals with abstract sounds, music can vividly paint images and scenes upon the blank canvas of our minds as we listen. Capture Light, the outstanding title track of John Holden’s first album, was an evocative description of the rivalry between two Renaissance artists. His sixth and latest release, The Great Divide, takes inspiration from the aesthetics and ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, with its delicate balance between boldness and restraint, as well as examining the theme of Divisions, both personal and global. The Art Nouveau style cover art and the atmospheric images that accompany each track are John’s original work, lending a visual dimension to the listening experience. Stylistically too John uses instrumental timbres like an artist’s palette, meticulously selecting and blending sounds in a painterly way to create moods, evoke images or achieve variety between each repetition of a verse or chorus. Combined with his gift for composing memorable, gracefully flowing melodies, this makes his music both engagingly accessible and a rich feast for the imagination.
John is always game for a challenge and his dazzling array of skills seems to diversify further with each album. For The Great Divide he contributes expert performances on guitars, bass, drumming and vocal programming and, for the first time, takes full responsibility for all the keyboard work. He has even found time to learn slide guitar for one track – no mean feat! As ever he welcomes a few talented friends to the party, including vocals from Iain Hornal and regular partner in crime Peter Jones as well as, for the first time, Sertari (Karnataka). Luke Machin and Michel St Pere (Mystery) are each gifted a track in which to showcase their outstanding guitar skills and Jon Poole (Lifesigns) and his bass guitar also make a flying visit. John and Elizabeth’s lyrics are poetic and insightful, and their breadth of scope inspires a wide range of compositional styles that bring interest and variety to the album.
The title track, The Great Divide, is the longest on the album and the most complex, its musical landscape alternating between symphonic sophistication and acoustically-driven intimacy. John’s beautifully intricate cover art features two figures standing on the edge of opposing cliffs, facing each other across a deep chasm. They could almost reach out to hold hands, but the space between them is just too great. Although the lyrics suggest the disintegration of a personal relationship, these lonely figures might also symbolise divisions in society between religions, political parties or nations. When pride, hurt and blame take the place of love and acceptance, our connections are torn and we drift, inexorably, ever further apart. Interestingly the vocals on this track are programmed. Initially the AI voices were intended as temporary guides but after spending time and care producing the ideal sound for the song John decided to retain them. As he said to me, is it so very different from using samples for, as an example, the voice of a violin?
After a plaintively soul-searching opening where time seems to stand still, we launch into an extended instrumental section. John proves here that he can write full-blown prog when he feels so inclined, introducing and developing a variety of themes, textures and time signatures artfully linked by the expressive voice of his own guitar. In contrast the verses and chorus step out with a folk-like simplicity, the wide intervals of the melody embellished lovingly by acoustic guitar and solo violin. The accompaniments and vocal harmonies build in complexity until the tempo suddenly slows to a pensive lilt for the contemplative bridge section which yearningly ponders the possibility that we might steal the pen/ Rewrite the script, begin again. Alas, humankind is not renowned for learning from history. The track closes with a reprise of the lament from the opening, empowered by high voltage instrumentals but ending in a sigh of despair:
So close now
And yet so far
Storm Warning and Sand Castles, which appears later on the album, feel like the book ends of a tempestuous but doomed relationship. The same red-dressed woman features on John’s artwork for both tracks, and each set of lyrics is dominated by water imagery – the electrically charged thrill of a thunderstorm and the remorseless pull of the tide that sweeps away the fragile sandcastle in its wake. Storm Warning is a powerful rock track with more than a hint of darkness. The lyrics depict the destructive but addictive violence of a passionate affair, thrillingly conveyed by Pete Jones’ heartfelt vocals and reinforced by the relentless energy of John’s sensitively programmed drums. Luke Machin’s athletic guitar closes the track with an exhilaratingly torrid solo.
The richly atmospheric Runes summons images of mysterious twilit woods, ancient rituals and a mystical connection with nature. The repetitive metre of the lyrics suggests the murmur of incantations, recalling the famous invocation of Macbeth’s three witches. John sprinkles the musical cauldron with expertly chosen instrumental flavours: the misty, bell-like keyboards that open the track conjure a dreamlike, magical atmosphere, while the modal melodies and a lute or harpsichord-like accompaniment in the chorus suggest distant times lost in folk memory. Low, eerie pedal notes, shivering strings and the slow crescendo of a relentless drum beat create a shadowy menace that intensifies throughout the song only to evaporate in a puff of smoke. Sertari’s vocals, combining ethereal unearthliness with the wildness of dark folk, are an inspired choice for this track.
After these visions of the distant past, Leaf and Blade transports us to the all-too-present day, with phrases such as Make it great and Keep building walls leaving us in little doubt of the primary target of this track’s cautionary satire. A more straightforward take on harmony, melody and structure, alongside the prominent use of John’s newly acquired slide guitar skills, give the music the flavour of country rock without resort to banjos or phony accents. The excellent vocals are provided by Iain Hornal. Despite its serious message, this is a toe-tappingly catchy song, performed with enthusiasm and panache.
This Jewel Was Ours is a witty and affectionate homage to Colin Dexter. The lyrics are studded with episode titles, locations and character traits and will bring a smile to the face of anyone who, like me, loved the Morse novels and TV series. Pete Jones’s mellow and expressive vocals are ideally suited to this quintessentially English track. The song’s structure is as painstakingly crafted as one of Dexter’s plots, with recurring motifs that are transformed and developed through new orchestral colouring or revealed in a fresh light through combination with other thematic elements. Duetting acoustic guitars introduce a measured, almost mathematical theme which will later become the backdrop for the verses, rounded off by a motif featuring a dotted rhythm which generates the opening of the verse melody and recurs throughout the track as a link between sections. The vocal melodies are eloquent testimony to John’s talent as a tunesmith, unfolding with graceful inevitability and perfectly matching the rhythms and sentiment of the lyrics. The gentle nostalgia of the opening gives way to a syncopated and edgy instrumental section featuring a broader colour palette including some jazzy guitar, but the track closes as it began, with a tender, valedictory reprise of the opening guitar duet.
Sandcastles, the natural companion to Storm Warning, portrays the bitter ending of the relationship. After an atmospheric opening featuring Sertari’s wordless vocals drifting over dreamy synths, proceedings become infectiously jazzy and up-tempo with syncopated rhythms, splashes of sax, sinuous guitar and some delightfully funky bass work from guest Jon Poole. This disillusioned lover may be broken but she is certainly not defeated.
The album’s closing track, Art and Craft, celebrates the Glasgow Four, a group of artists working at the forefront of the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland. The ‘Great Divide’ explored here is between the cold iron glare of industrial mass production and the organic processes and emphasis on natural forms characteristic of the Art Nouveau style. The soulful strains of a brass band set the scene, perhaps suggesting the sombre colours of an industrial landscape viewed through rolling fog or a veil of rain. In contrast, the uncluttered textures and bright guitar tones that introduce and accompany the vocals deliver a refreshing sense of transparency and natural grace. Towards the end of the track John creates a magical soundscape, layering lustrous plucked string effects and ethereal guitar harmonics above shimmering keyboards. This evocation of the artists’ richly tinted stained glass and jewel-like flowers forms a sparkling backdrop to the final verse and chorus. The brass band from the opening reappears, this time adding a glow of warmth, and Michel St Pere’s guitar rings out in a rhapsodic paean of joy, celebrating a world where art and craft are shared.
John has produced another first class album showcasing his ability to create thought-provoking, intelligent music and lyrics which both entertain us and shine a new light on the world around us. He is never one to bask in the light of previous success, and for The Great Divide he has chosen to confine most of his orchestral sounds to those that would have been available to a band keyboard player in the late 80’s. As a result, the soundscapes sacrifice some of the vibrantly realistic orchestration that gave his previous album, Proximity and Chance, its widescreen cinematic sweep, in favour of a more restrained palette. For me this occasionally diminishes the immediacy of the music; other opinions are available, and that small reservation in no way prevents me from whole-heartedly recommending this album. The Great Divide will entrance and move you with its superb production and musicianship, its exquisitely crafted songs and its stylishly delivered insights into art, craft and the human condition.
TRACK LISTINGS
01. The Great Divide (13:13)
02. Storm Warning (9:41)
03. Runes (7:36)
04. Leaf To Blade (5:36)
05. This Jewel Was Ours (8:46)
06. Sandcastles (4:54)
07. Art And Craft (9:17)
Total Time – 59:03
MUSICIANS
John Holden – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Vocal, Drum Production
~ With:
Iain Hornal – Vocals (4 & 7)
Peter Jones – Vocals (2 & 5)
Sertari – Vocals (3 & 6)
Luke Machin – Guitar (2)
Michel St Pere – Guitar (7)
Jon Poole – Bass (6)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: UK
Date of Release: 19th September 2025
LINKS
John Holden – Website | Facebook | YouTube | X | Instagram
