HOLDING ABSENCE UNVEIL NEW STUDIO ALBUM
Photo: Bethan Miller
South Wales music scene veterans Holding Absence have officially dropped their brand-new single, ‘Heaven’. The release coincides with the arrival of their highly anticipated new full-length record, Modern Life Is Lonely, which lands today via Sumerian Records. Listen HERE.
Reflecting on the new drop, lead singer Lucas Woodland shares, “for our fourth and final single from MLIL, we're ecstatic to release our song "Heaven"! This one feels like a classic HA song, with a heart-wrenching message and an epic chorus, but of course, repackaged into our newer style. The verses lean heavily into dainty electronic styles, before we throw the mid-section back to an OG Holding Absence shoegaze breakdown. The video itself is the final instalment of our Y4 narrative, where we get to see our friend touchdown on earth and experience nature and music for the first time.”
In a modern culture where hyper-connectivity paradoxically leaves people feeling increasingly isolated, contemporary art must mirror current realities rather than mere possibilities. For Lucas Woodland, this imperative aligned effortlessly with where he and Holding Absence stood creatively. With their fourth studio LP, the band delivers a body of work that addresses the widespread, shared isolation of 2026.
Serving as a spiritual contemporary update to Blur’s landmark 1993 album Modern Life Is Rubbish, Modern Life Is Lonely captures the feeling of navigating a world that is equal parts intricate and emotionally constraining. It offers a candid examination of the modern habits and technologies that have crept into daily life, often subtly or uninvited, distilling the uncanny paradox of being globally linked yet utterly solitary. Rather than aiming for timelessness, the record embraces its timeliness, offering comfort while chronicling today's surreal atmosphere.
“This album was really the first time that I thought, ‘Let’s speak about the world that I live in, rather than the world that I am,” Lucas comments. “It’s no longer like a therapy class; a bunch of strangers are no longer turning up to Existentials Anonymous. In theory, everyone knows me now; they’ve heard my journey, but I’m still struggling in this big, bad world. It doesn’t matter how much enlightenment you can find within yourself; the world is still a scary place right now.”
This shift in creative direction represents a significant transition for Lucas, given how intimately he has poured his own life into Holding Absence over the last decade. Across a acclaimed trilogy, 2019’s self-titled debut, 2021’s The Greatest Mistake Of My Life, and 2023’s The Noble Art Of Self Destruction, the group toured the globe, shared stages with iconic influences, and built a dedicated following by tapping into deep vulnerability. Closing that foundational chapter meant finding an entirely new artistic well to draw from.
Rather than processing these societal themes purely through his own perspective, the band created a distinct character to embody these modern struggles: Y4-BBO. Functioning as both a fictional narrative figure and a visual representation of today's tech-driven existential confusion, the character gives the album an intriguing dual concept. Adding to the visual concept, the helmet Y4-BBO wears on the album cover was crafted by the prop designers responsible for the iconic Cybermen in Doctor Who, illustrating the project's ambitious scope.
This evolution extends into the musical identity of Holding Absence across the record. Stepping back to re-evaluate their core essence, the group recognized their sound was defined less by raw volume and more by musical vocabulary. Possessing an expansive range of untapped creative avenues, Lucas, joined by guitarist Scott Carey and bassist Benjamin Elliot, sought to forge a sound that feels dynamic, expansive, and distinctly otherworldly.
Blending the reckless energy of hyper-pop and the atmospheric calmness of lo-fi with their signature post-hardcore foundation, the band took inspiration from forward-thinking artists like Julia Wolf and Paledusk, crafting an album that feels both daring and definitive.
Abandoning traditional song structures, the band spent months cutting, rearranging, slowing down, and speeding up track arrangements. Delicate ambient textures and subtle synth patterns collide with bursts of high-energy instrumentation, creating a listening experience that feels instantly memorable yet completely fresh.
Produced by Daniel Braunstein, marking his first time working with a UK group, the collaboration showcases both the producer and the band venturing outside their established comfort zones.
In an era where alternative music is continuously altered by digital landscapes, pushing into unexplored soundscapes feels more essential than ever.
“We pushed ourselves in ways that we’d never had before, while maintaining what that language of Holding Absence is. We’ll be introducing people to new sounds, and that’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. But also, I think everything should inspire something, and with this record, as pretty famous victims of what AI is capable of, I wanted to do shit that no AI idiot would ever try and do, or even understand how to do. We’re at a new frontier where things are changing very fast, and we don’t know what this horrible sort of change entails for us. But where we are right now is essentially at a point of instinctive rebellion against that, and I’m intrigued about what comes next with that.”
This adventurous mindset naturally shaped Lucas’s lyricism as well. Looking beyond his inner emotional landscape, he turned his focus outward toward the cosmos, drawing inspiration from the infinite balance of the night sky. The stars feel stunning yet overwhelming, raising existential questions that mix a sense of awe with genuine terror.
This duality runs deep throughout the record, shifting constantly between opposing emotional extremes. Hope and deep-seated isolation sit side by side in modern life, a tension that actively shaped the songwriting process.
Developed over two and a half years of continuous writing and demoing—the longest studio process in the band's history—the extended timeframe gave Lucas the space to dissect what it means to live through this specific moment in time.
“Over the last two and a half years, I’ve gone through so much internally in regards to hopelessness, loneliness and fear of failure, and I think this album really is like a resistance to that. There’s an awareness of self in here now. It’s almost cynical, but it is also realistic. I say this every time, but I truly mean it. This album could have just not happened. But I have such a deep yearning for this life and this art form of storytelling that I have to do it. I just can’t not.”
Reaching a decade as a group while continuing to honor that artistic drive is no easy feat, but it is precisely what sets Holding Absence apart. With ‘Modern Life Is Lonely’, the trio expands their sonic world, producing a release that is powerful, uncompromising, and truly undeniable.
“I think that we are now in the arc in our career where we could fall the hell off or we could cling on for dear life, and sort of dwindle and fade away,” Lucas muses in conclusion. “Yet, I think we’ve done neither of those things. I think that we’ve been as rebellious as we’ve been respectful of our band, and we’ve managed to hold that line. I’m not a kid anymore, and I don’t want just to be doing the same stuff over and over again. So, it’s really special to me that we’ve nailed something very unique that is bigger than our band. Bigger than all of us.”
FORTHCOMING LIVE DATES:
SEPTEMBER
18: LOUISVILLE (KY) Louder Than Life Festival
OCTOBER
01: SACRAMENTO (CA) Aftershock Festival
NOVEMBER (w/ Enter Shikari)
03: HAMBURG Sporthalle
04: MUNICH Zenith
05: LEIPZIG Haus Auensee
06: DUSSELDORF Mitsubishi Electric Hall
07: BERLIN Columbiahalle
10: BRUSSELS Forest National
11: TILBURG 013
13: NOTTINGHAM Motorpoint Arena
14: CARDIFF Utilita Arena
15: HULL Connexin Live
18: GLASGOW OVO Hydro
19: MANCHESTER Co-op Live
20: LONDON Alexandra Palace
21: LONDON Alexandra Palace
