Spectreview: Tyler Holmes – Nightmare in Paradise

Released: March 26, 2021

Experimental Pop
(Electronic)

-DARK ORANGE-

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Over the past few years, as the maintenance of mental health has risen in prominence, many of us have changed how we internally address the fallout of our individual traumas. In Tyler Holmes’ case, songwriting works as a therapeutic tool to work through violence and its destructive effects on the psyche. Nightmare In Paradise is one result of that process, revealed in both its fragility and its capacity to endure through pain. Much like a dandelion, it threatens to break apart just from the force of breath.

Hushed and intensely intimate, its minimalist songs find Holmes paring back the sultriness of R&B, the moodiness of grunge and the quietude of folk to their critical components, with a healthy dose of anxiety-eliciting noise (“Concrete Balloon”). Though it’s stylistically varied, it’s all cohered together by Holmes’ voice: multi-tracked and close-miced for maximum efficacy, with evocative uses of Auto-Tune on occasion (as on both the doo-wop styled title track and the fantastic robotic climax of “Guts”). 

Though the record is borne of dire circumstances, a benevolent tenderness nevertheless shines through, from the lengthy declaration of “Heart Token” all the way to the tender concession of “Canvas.” That benevolence, cut with a tense current of hurt underneath, makes the record an overall joy to experience. In its restrained yet visceral approach to cathartic songwriting, Nightmare in Paradise transcends labels and cuts straight through to the core.

Recommended for healing.