Generating Hope for Music and Life: The Holloways' So This is Great Britain?

The Holloways have written the anthem for the High Fidelity crowd, for all of us who find that music brings more than entertainment and actually somehow saves us from dreary feelings of inadequacy, meaninglessness, and malaise. “Generator” is an Irish jig disco where Alfie Jackson and Rob Skipper’s doubled-vocals say, “I can get a record player, and a generator./Generate the music that makes you feel better.” It calls to mind all of the times when music—recorded or live—served to completely shift my mood and life trajectory.

The Holloways’ So This is Great Britain? floats on a buoy of Irish jig-like rhythms while landing much more within rock/pop docks. The title track punks up the jig while also bringing out Carter USM’s novelty hooks to produce a 2007 versions of “London Calling.” Elsewhere, the novelty comes through a wittiness akin to Ted Leo and Too Much Joy where the silliness hides deeper themes. “Malcontented One” has the harmonica of the Housemartins for a ditty like A House while certain lyrical couplets sound like They Might Be Giants.

Even though the basic rhythm of the Holloways is a jig, that jig is far from the traditional. “Fit for a Fortnight” takes the jig out to the country with some good ol’ backbeat. “Re-invent Myself?” finds a Lynyrd Skynyrd-like guitar alongside the punk sounding British accents meaning the Holloways could be called AltBritTradCountry.

The Holloways, then, are able to combine all of this rhythmic silliness while still delivering poignant words. I used “Generator” for a youth retreat this past fall. We got everyone dancing while also thinking about how it is the music of God’s Word that can really save.

Then there’s “Nothing for the Kids,” appropriate for a discussion I led with community leaders about the complaint of teens that “there's nothing for the kids to do today.” As the song says, because there’s nothing for them to do, it leads to the lowest common denominator activities which all lead toward delinquency and a future with nothing to do in jail. Of course, when the Holloways sing about it, it is much less pedantic—which brings us back to how music can save us by getting us thinking and talking about things we might otherwise leave in textbooks.

The Holloways
TVT Records