“We’ve got to break this fever, break this fever…”
Producer, composer, and Unloved-founder David Holmes today releases a new single, ‘Hope Is the Last Thing To Die’ featuring up and coming vocalist Raven Violet. With lyrics in both French and English, the track calls out the governments of the world for their corruption and incompetence during the pandemic and their inaction in the face of the climate crisis.
Directed by Jimmy Turrell
“I never thought I would sing again unless I had something to say and like everyone else the last 18 months have shaken and stirred many emotions,” Holmes says of the track. “’Hope Is The Last Thing To Die’ was written from my note books over this period. Scribblings of overheard conversations, interviews and what I was reading. After recording the vox myself I felt these words would be better off sung by someone who could actually sing and would do the song justice. Enter Raven who sang our (Unloved) cover of The Kinks – ‘Strange Effect‘ which is now gracing the opening titles to the Hulu series ‘9 Perfect Strangers‘. I’ve always loved Raven’s voice, so it was a beautiful thing to collaborate with her. She’s now working with me on my next album.”
A dusky slice of atmospheric pop, ‘Hope Is the Last Thing to Die’ is a rallying cry against the elites that have failed us, not just throughout the last eighteen months of the pandemic, but in their continued failure to act on the threat of the climate crisis, a challenge people around the world are rising to with positivity and hope.
On the video director Jimmy Turrell adds:
“Before agreeing to work on a lyric video I always have to ask myself a simple question – do you love the track? As soon as this dropped in my inbox I was onboard – everything about it – the lyrics, the message, how it moved sonically, the tone of Raven’s voice – i was in.
The video is ostensibly a moving collage travelling different eras and subject matter – in one breathe it’s a call to arms for hope and change and in another it’s an ambiguous visual journey including everything from Boris masked up in a fishmongers, Psilocybin, Shoe Factories, Ancient Runes & Symbols, Bullet Ridden Flags and Mods being nicked on Brighton Beach.”
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Holmes is currently in the studio with Unloved, who will return with an album of new material and further collaborations with Raven in 2022. No doubt some of these compositions will make their way into the fourth season of Killing Eve, the Emmy-winning cat & mouse spy series on which Holmes serves as a composer and music supervisor.
Belfast-born Holmes boasts a formidable CV, with five solo albums and twenty-five soundtracks to his name. His screen work ranges from Steven Soderbergh’s classic Ocean’s Eleven trilogy and Steve McQueen’s critically acclaimed Hunger, to stylish TV drams including London Spy and The Fall. Holmes formed Unloved with fellow soundtrack artist Keefus Ciancia (True Detective) and singer Jade Vincent in the mid-2010s. They have released two LPs – 2016’s Guilty Of Love and 2019’s Heartbreak, both of which form the majority of the soundtracks for Killing Eve.