HOLOGRAM

TRACKLISTING

1 . The Subs - Enter The Hologram
2 . The Subs feat. Colonel Abrams - Trapped
3 . The Subs feat. Selah Sue - Live In A Dream
4 . The Subs feat. Jay Brown & Danny Greene - 27
5 . The Subs feat. Jean-Pierre Castaldi - Concorde
6 . The Subs feat. Jay Brown - Fly
7 . The Subs feat. Jay Brown - Cling To Love
8 . The Sub s feat. Jay Brown - The Hand
9 . The Subs feat. Jay Brown - Under My Skin
10 . The Subs feat. Danny Greene - The Bottle
11 . The Subs feat. Ja y Brown - Hologram
12 . The Subs - Exit The Hologram



INFO
How to survive in the world of club music, with all its niches and subcultures and its trends changing so rapidly? Go underground, the avant-ga rde way? Go mad and stop making music all together? Jump ship constantly? Or try to make something more universal and timeless? For their third full-length rele ase, Belgian dance act The Subs decided to make a pop album with heartfelt soul, filmic French retrofuturism and crisp beats. 'Hologram' is an album that displa ys many moods and styles and sees The Subs working together with both renowned i nternational vocalists and underground singers and rappers: Colonel Abrams, Sela h Sue, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Jay Brown and Danny Greene.

With two alb ums under their belt, Jeroen De Pessemier (David Newtron) and Wiebe Loccufier (D J Tonic) have been touring around the world for five years - London, Barcelona o r Sydney, Tomorrowland, Bestival, Lowlands, Les Eurockéennes – you name it . Some major changes took place within the band over the past years. In 2012, so ngwriter/frontman Jeroen De Pessemier moved to London, absorbing new musical inf luences there like the UK garage and house revival. After the release of their s econd album 'Decontrol', Wiebe Loccufier started producing beats and evolved fro m dj into producer. Finally, by recruiting Hadrien Lavogez, The Subs got themsel ves a genuine multi-instrumentalist with an incredible knack for melody. This wh ole new dynamic pushed The Subs towards a more pop-based sound for 'Hologram'. < br>
'Trapped' is a sunshine-fuelled, epic rendition of the 1985 street-sma rt R&B hit by Colonel Abrams. A rolling bassline and melodic pads set the tone u nderneath the powerful and infectious vocal by Colonel Abrams. Definite feel goo d anthem! The Subs invited the legendary American singer to Belgium to re-record his vocals. Colonel Abrams's visit to Belgium was an adventure. Before the lege nd wanted to sing any note, he needed a haircut and a stylist. Eventually it too k 3 days and a shipment of Baileys to lay down the vocals. And he left The Subs with some good stories. One evening during dinner, Colonel Abrams tried to convi nce them of the fact that he made the first house record: 'Release the Tension', a track from 1984 that he recorded with Boyd Jarvis. We don't know if that's ac tually true, but it's a damn good track. And a bold statement!

Anothe r international icon who paid a visit to the Subs-studio is French actor Jean-Pi erre Castaldi: one might know this veteran of cinéma from the 'Astérix'-movies. Castaldi is the deep warm voice that you hear on 'Concorde', an upbeat retrofutu ristic track that is both an ode to the supersonic wonder of 20th century techno logy and a love song. Jeroen: 'Jean-Pierre was an actor, more than a singer, in our studio: he wanted to know precisely what we wanted - we were his 'directors' . And his rider demanded that we had a bottle of quality bourbon whisky in the s tudio too (laughs).'

Deep emotions are laid bare in the bouncy 'Live in a Dream' (Selah Sue) and the dreamy triphoppy 'Fly' (London-based Jay Brown). Jay Brown is actually VV Brown's talented younger sister: a singer-songwriter t hat Jeroen discovered during an open mic night in London. Brown can also be hear d in the tracks '27', 'Under My Skin', 'Cling To Love', 'The Hand' and 'Hologram '. Jeroen: 'As soon as I stumbled into that pub and saw Jay play her songs on ac oustic guitar, I was infatuated with her voice and songs. We used some of her de mos on this record and wrote some new songs with her as well.' Wiebe: 'With thre e band members living in different cities, different countries even, this whole album was an email affair: I sent my beats to Jeroen en Hadrien, whose song craf t turned them into full-bodied tracks. I never even met Jay before the album was finished! But somehow, that long-distance relationship worked for us.'
It worked indeed, as 'Hologram' is an album on which The Subs explore both a playfulness and a vulnerability that is new to them. This album is still brimmin g with energy, but the dark dance-punk of the previous record has been traded fo r a much more soulful vibe.
Wiebe 'We've done five years of very loud music and very specific, really intense live performances: it was time for something else. After our last gigs, I saw it in Jeroen's eyes: fear of routine. If there' s one thing Jeroen's not very good at, it's faking something (laughs).'
Jer oen 'I think it's only a logical progression: paying more attention to songwriti ng, melodies, feelings and lyrics. Although there was no concept at all when we started recording a year ago. We didn't follow any trend.'
'Wiebe 'From hip hop to UK house, we absorbed a lot of influences, but this is still Subs-music. We took our time, trusted our gut instinct.'
Jeroen 'That's why we called t he album 'Hologram': we like to think of songs as dreams, subliminal ideas, reve lations almost.'

No more wild nights for The Subs? Think again. 'The Bottle' features a monologue by Danny Greene - an underground grime artist Jeroe n bumped into in London - that is philosophical, naïve, arrogant, hilarious and funky at the same time. Danny's soliloquy catapults you right into that afterpar ty at 7.00 AM, when the hazy dreamy morning light is breaking through the window and the madness of the night is still tangible.

'Hologram' was conce ived on an equally intriguing intersection: it's The Subs most accessible and ex perimental record to date.