Today, Montreal-based songwriter Common Holly releases her latest EP, They will draw halos around our heads, out via Keeled Scales and Paper Bag Records.
Following last year’s critically acclaimed LP, Anything glass, Common Holly expands upon her gentle, delicate, and whimsical universe with a collection that highlights her signature introspective and perceptive lyricism, evocative vocals, and soft, understated instrumentation.
The EP presents Common Holly's signature piano and finger-style guitar sounds, while approaching a level of rawness that is new for the artist. Produced in collaboration with her bandmate, Devon Bate, on a studio timeline, the team recorded the tracks with a level of speed and honesty that can only happen under pressure.
"This EP was intended as an experiment in not overthinking it. I finished the compositions on a studio date deadline, and most were recorded in one day and edited over a couple of sessions with Devon. This was a stark contrast to any prior processes for making and releasing Common Holly music, which have at times felt endless. I think this EP is a collection of five songs that didn't know where they belonged, but that still wanted to be heard," Common Holly says.
The title track speaks to expectations that people socialized as women may experience from a young age.
"I wanted to direct attention to this song because it is in no way attention-grabbing on its own, but I also feel like it’s the one I like most. I think it’s an exploration of projections that get cast onto girls and women to embody the highest moral standard, the picture of perfect angels. I think it’s about this receptive position of the impressionable child, how these messages seep insidiously into their psyches. And I think it’s a kind of call to reclaim, for us to take our brains and bodies back from the seep."
A somewhat somber song, it reflects the simmering frustration that may arise when one realizes the world has been insidiously shaping how you're able to show up in the world - namely, by removing your agency about your self-expression. In writing and releasing the song, Common Holly reminds women and girls around her that they do not need to accept the ideas piped into their heads.
This track is one of the few with a full band behind her delicate guitar and vocal style, emphasizing the weight of the topic.
A quiet force, Common Holly creates immersive sonic worlds that invite listeners to slow down and consider a gentler perspective—one that reminds us of what truly matters.