Ste van Holm
| Ste van Holm | |
|---|---|
 Ste van Holm 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Stefan Holm |
| Born | 27 November 1977 |
| Origin | Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Genres | Ambient, experimental rock, pop, art rock, new-age |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, record producer |
| Instruments | synthesizer, guitar, bass guitar, chapman stick |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Polyhistor, MusicVenture |
| Website |
www |
Ste van Holm (born Stefan Holm, 1977, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish musician and video artist of Faroese descent living in North Zealand, Denmark.
He has currently released four albums, all of which are available on iTunes. Each album is performed within a new genre, as Ste van Holm sees it as the artist's most important task to win new terrain.[1] A reviewer described Ste van Holm's works "genre dogmatic".[2] However, all his albums are contemporary.
Ste van Holm began playing guitar in his early teens and through his high school years he played in a lot of different bands. When Ste van Holm could afford to build a small home studio, he dropped out of the bands he played in, and focused instead on studio production. With very few exceptions, Ste van Holm has not played live since the late-nineties. However, between 2011 and 2013 he performed a series of full scale concerts to promote his albums 'Anyway' and 'Harvest'. He has worked as live sound engineer for Danish band Entakt for whom he also mixed the album Kun en elektrisk summen fra en neonreklame der skulle have forestillet solen.
In the latter part of 1990s Ste van Holm roamed the Danish music world and was often found backstage at gigs. In 2000 he had established himself as a name in the environment which meant that he was offered a position as studio manager at Peter Brander's Media Sound Studio.[3] While Ste van Holm was at Media Sound, he worked with names such as Michael Falch, Peter Viskinde, Mike Tramp, Big Fat Snake, Dj Encore and others.
Ste van Holm is not very keen on the business side of the music industry, and only gives very few interviews.
Discography
Odyssey (2001)
Odyssey is the title of Ste van Holm's first full-length album which was released in 2001.
The album is based on the book 2001 - A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, and was released on 20/01 - 2001 pm. 20:01. Odyssey is an ambient album spiced up with minimalism. The instrumental album consists of four movements each corresponding to key elements in the book, and four soundscapes with computerized vocals to bridge the parts.
Tabula Rasa (2004)
Tabula Rasa is the second full-length album released by Ste van Holm. The album was partly recorded in Klaus Schønning studio. Tabula Rasa's six instrumental tracks lie stylistically in the new-age genre, which the album also distance itself from. In an interview Ste van Holm said that he wanted to add some darkness to the otherwise undistirbing New Age universe, thus creating a genre he called Heavy New Age. The album was produced by musician Klaus Schønning, which for many years had the leading position within the New Age genre in Denmark. In the CD cover mentions that Ste van Holm plays on a so-called Aurotron. The Aurotron is not an instrument in itself, but the sound created on the basis of recordings of the aurora borealis. Northern Lights does not generate any sound, but consists of electromagnetic radiation that can easily be recorded using a vlf radio.
Constructions (2007)
The Constructions album is strikingly different from Ste van Holm's two previous albums, not least because Constructions in large part consisted of songs. Constructions' mood is very gloomy and the lyrics deals with deprivation, desperation, death and political alienation. Constructions is based on the Italian Futurist manifest 'the art of noises' and the French musical philosophy 'musique concrete'. In essence it is an art rock album focusing on the possibilities of making music on something else than musical instruments. As preparation for the album Ste van Holm spend a few years searching for sounds in abandoned buildings around Copenhagen. Ste van Holm also spend time with legend in the field N. U. Unruh of the German band Einstürzende Neubauten before the album finally came together and were released in December 2007. Most of the found objects were sampled and triggered using computers and sequencers, but for the parts that needed human touch, Ste van Holm employed percussionist extraordinare Martin Jørgensen whose metalbanging skills are documented in the short film 'Constructions - and album in black/white' which can be found on YouTube. Also appearing on the album are Troels Bech of Sort Sol fame, Julie Sønderstrup of Mint and Andres Brandt of ZoBug. The album got mixed reviews, but was very well received by subcultural movements and was played by dj's in Berlin and New York clubs.
Anyway (2009)
Anyway with its ten tracks is the most extroverted album from Ste van Holm. Genrewise Anyway is a pop, disco and soul album. Anyway is also the first album from Ste van Holm without instrumentals or soundscapes. As on its predecessor, Constructions, the vocals were contributed by a number of different singers, but unlike Constructions all singers on Anyway are female. The lyrics are about getting from A to B, both as physical journeys as well as inner explorations or work achievements. About half of the songs deals with authentic persons such as Marie Curie, Thomas Edison and Phillipe Petit.
Harvest (2012)
On October 29, 2012 Ste van Holm released his fifth album of original material, Harvest. This was a rock album centered on electric guitars, Hammond organ and acoustic drums. The album artwork features a picture of snowdrops with blood flowing from their stalks.
Tesla (2015)
Ste van Holm's 6th album, released in November 2015, is a concept album about the life of Nikola Tesla. The album tells the story of Nikola Tesla in nine songs, and have a total length of 57 minutes 36 seconds making it nearly twenty minutes longer that its predecessor, 'Harvest'. 'Tesla' gained attention from journalists all over Europe, where newspapers and web magazines posted articles and reviews. Especially Croatia and Germany were keen on the project. In Croatia the Vecernji List newspaper dedicated a whole page to Ste van Holm and the 'Tesla' project.
The Decption Project (2016)
With a tour in support of 'Tesla' failing to materialize, Ste van Holm went straight on to the next project called 'The Deception Project'. Announced in April 2016 with the release of two songs on the Bandcamp website, the idea is to release one new track a month until the end of 2016 where all songs will be released as an album.
Music videos
Besides directing videos for his own music, Ste van Holm has also directed for Majbritt Løfgreen and Trey Gunn (King Crimson).[4] In addition, Ste van Holm directed the movie Traumfestival about German band Einstürzende Neubauten in 2003.