Photo by: Bethan Miller-Carey
Official press release:
South Wales trio Holding Absence have released “Whisper of a Dream”, their first new music since 2023’s The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction and their first for new label Sumerian Records.
This track captures what it means to be human when hope feels out of reach. Holding Absence explore the tension between numbness and healing, tapping into a state so dark it feels almost inhuman. It is a search for something better, while watching it slip further away. Sitting between emotional hardcore and alternative, Holding Absence lean into deep vulnerability, pulling listeners into a world shaped by their lyrics and striking visual identity. The single also marks the introduction of a character that will unfold across the album campaign.
Speaking of “Whisper Of A Dream“, frontman Lucas Woodland shares:
“‘Whisper Of A Dream’ is our first song back in what feels like forever. After releasing our third record, The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction, it felt essential to step away for a while – to take stock and rediscover who we are as a band. ‘Whisper’ felt like the perfect song to return with. In many ways, it represents everything Holding Absence has always been, while introducing new elements to our sound and opening the door to what comes next.
Lyrically and conceptually, the song draws heavily from cyberpunk media. Contemplation, sentience and dreaming in an ever-evolving world. The music video also introduces our robot mascot ‘Y4-BB0’, a character you’ll be seeing more of in the coming years.”
By signing off The Noble Art of Self-Destruction with a stark “3/3”, Holding Absence made a promise – to set fire to everything they, and their fans, thought they knew about the band. After nearly a decade of carving out a home in their post hardcore terrain, TNAOSD was a final, defiant love letter to themselves – a wild, muddy exorcism of all they had been, and all that fans had grown to love about them… But the end of that campaign posed some cold, hard questions: What do we lose? And what do we keep? What does it mean – and has it meant – to the thousands of fans across the world adorned with the moth tattoo? And how do we carry out this metamorphosis without losing that?
Holding Absence is emotion. It is vulnerability and honesty. It’s the raindrops that trickle down your face on a cold walk home… The wind that blows across your cheeks as the sky splits open at sunrise. If you can feel it – raw and human – it is Holding Absence. Stream “Whisper Of A Dream” here, and watch the official music video here:
