Holmes

Holmes is a Swedish punk band from Vänersborg, Sweden, active since 2003. The group releases music that is also tagged as indie, shoegaze, indie rock and indie pop, and it develops a reputation for melodic songs with a melancholic and expansive character.

Career

The band forms in Vänersborg in 2003. Its debut album, Wolves, appears in November 2008 after an earlier 2009 Storm EP. The album receives a strong international response, and the group follows it with a European tour in spring 2009, which is described as its most successful European tour at that point.

Holmes then records Have I Told You Lately That I Loathe You, a second album made with people the band already knows and works with. The artwork is illustrated by Anna Emilia Laitinen in Tampere, Finland, the recordings take place at Kepner Treg with Per-Ola Eriksson in Göteborg, Sweden, and the material is mastered by Carl Saff in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The release is presented as a more confident follow-up to Wolves, with a more vibrant and raw sound and more direct and considered lyrics.

The band rehearses in an old mental hospital in Vänersborg, a detail that reflects its close connection to the town. Its music is described as sincere, true and honest, with a strong emphasis on melody.