Highly talented UK singer, Hollie Cook, will be releasing her forthcoming new album ‘Happy Hour’ on 24th June (via Merge Records), which sees her mature into the queen of modern-day Lovers Rock. In celebration, today Holly has announced a UK tour – which includes a Brighton concert see dates below – and dropped her brand new single ‘Full Moon Baby’, which is the first release from the album. Watch the official ‘Full Moon Baby’ video directed by Danny Nellis HERE and listen to the song on Spotify HERE.
On ‘Happy Hour’, (which you can pre-order HERE) Hollie dares to invite listeners into her true personality which she co-produced with her General Roots band members Ben Mckone and Luke Allwood, and executive producer Youth. “Particularly with the songwriting, I was trying to really push myself and be open, to not be restricted in any way. I have always been a fan of theatrical pop music and wanted to experiment more with the song form.” From her feisty roots, Hollie has only grown. Her soulful directness on ‘Happy Hour’ is relatable and authentic. “I can’t get away from it,” she says. “Making this music that I love, I do turn deep inside myself. It makes me explore a lot of human truths and feelings that we should not shy away from, and it feels like a release to turn them into songs.”
Hollie says that ‘Full Moon Baby’ was “..inspired by new life and, of course, the moon. Two of my closest friends had recently had babies, and I was filled with so much hope and love. Moons and babies both have such a soft, gentle nature to them and fill me with wonder. Also, babies look like tiny moons.”
Touring as a teenager with punk legends The Slits, Hollie’s mentor was Ari Up, the band’s lead singer and a lifelong friend of Cook’s parents (Sex Pistols drummer Paul and her singer mother Jeni who sang with Culture Club). “My father always said I would be a singer. But I discovered lovers rock on my own. I heard it on pirate radio and at friends’, and I was bewildered, enchanted,” she recalls. “The Slits are the reason I have pursued this career. I was surrounded by powerful women at a young age, and when my time came, I was never fazed by male dominance. They were my wall of courage.”
Hollie has announced a 10-date UK tour which includes an appearance in Brighton at the Chalk venue. Hollie appeared live at the same venue last week as special guest of Gentleman’s Dub Club, where she shared vocal duties with their frontman Jonathan Scratchley on their ‘Honey’ single, which you can locate HERE on Bandcamp. Read the Brighton & Hove News report of that concert with more photos of Hollie HERE.
You can purchase concert tour tickets exclusively from Hollie’s website HERE before the go on general sale on this Friday 18th March.
Hollie Cook UK tour dates:
Jun 30 London – Rough Trade East (‘Happy Hour’ release show)
Oct 14 Glasgow – King Tut’s
Oct 15 Blackpool – Bootleg Social
Oct 16 Manchester – Gorilla
Oct 18 Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
Oct 20 Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
Oct 21 Bristol – Thekla
Oct 22 Brighton – Chalk
Oct 23 Southampton – The 1865
Oct 26 London – Village Underground
You can also purchase your Brighton concert tickets directly from the promoters, Lout, HERE.
Previous praise for Hollie Cook has included the following:
“Criminally underrated.” The Guardian
“Plenty plenty soul” Mojo****
“It is perhaps ironic that an artist personally connected to both the Slits and the Sex Pistols by her teenage years would go on to make love songs as intoxicatingly beautiful as this” Pitchfork
“A girl following her heart, there’s a refreshing honesty to what Hollie Cook puts before us” i-D
