Common Holly

Pop Montreal, Montreal QC, Sept. 29

Photo: Steve Louie

BY Colin HarrisPublished Sep 30, 2018

7
Brigitte Naggar's lullabye-like voice is the centrepiece of Common Holly's pensive, delicate pop that's prone to the odd chaotic moment. The trio slowly builds up momentum from "The Rose" until the cacophony of the second half of set-closing "If After All." The songs here are deceptively complex, subtle in their sadness. With minimal percussion and no bass, multi-instrumentalist and producer Devon Bate fills out the space with a distorted drone as he takes a bow to his guitar. Or, in the case of the quietly anthemic "Nothing," a tambourine.
 
There's no resignation in Naggar's melancholy, more of a peaceful acceptance best summed up by the repeated phrase "I'm crazy, don't leave me," in a new song that they play, which she says will be on their forthcoming followup to 2016's Playing House.

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