The Big TakeOver Magazine (issue 56) by Michael Pearlstein
Italian five-piece band Hollowblue deliver on this poignant, albeit short debut. Gianluca Maria Sorace has an excellent, deep voice, well suited to the passionate ballads he sings on this six-tracks EP, all of them standouts, and all of them on the dark side. Think Tindersticks/Nick Cave/The National, but much more centered around the vocals and less on instrumental bombast. Hollowblue keep it minor key with light strings and barely-there percussion. Everything is perfectly understated, allowing Sorace to convey the bulk of emotion via his expert crooning. Anthony Reynolds (ex-Jack/Jacques) delivers an absolutely killer guest vocal on “io bevo” (“I drink”) catapulting this into must-buy territory.
