Independent artist Holy Roller Baby, the rock n' roll brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Jared Mullins, today releases their brand new LP Smile Like Heaven. Along with the album, Holy Roller Baby also releases their video for the first track from the record, “Ant Hills.”
Preceded by two singles, “Speaking in Tongues” and “Girl From the East Side,” both released earlier this summer, Holy Roller Baby’s second album Smile Like Heaven blends together elements from all different corners and eras of rock n’ roll to create a unique, energetic sound. Each song was carefully crafted by Jared under the guidance of producer Ian Davenport [Radiohead, Band Of Skulls] at Valve Studios, in Dallas, TX and Courtyard Studios in Oxfordshire, England. The sound of the album naturally evolved as Jared and the musicians performed live in one room under Davenport’s watch.
Jared says, “I never want the songs to sound the same. I want the sound to be unpredictable and tap into different nuances. Ian is like a band member at this point, and we bounce ideas off each other. The process was comfortable because we had the foundation of the first record.”
The album’s opening song “Ant Hills” kicks the record off with driving drums and distorted guitars. The music video, out today, gives viewers a small taste of what Holy Roller Baby’s energetic live performances will hold in store.
Jared says, “It’s meant to be a catchy introduction to the record. The hook was the central piece, and we kept hammering that. Since it’s about buying things, starting the album with ‘Ant Hills’ was a tongue-in-cheek move.”
Immediately following “Ant Hills” on the album, “Blue” hinges on a stomping groove, a hummable guitar melody rife with cosmic implications, and a vibrantly sung plea, “You got the moon I got the stars. Let’s make a galaxy. Under the sun for everyone to see”
Later on the record, strings bleed into a gritty guitar sound on the album’s lead single “Speaking In Tongues” as he cheers on a toe-tapping revival with intoxicating panache and a classic soft-loud catharsis.
“Speaking in Tongues” was lauded by Austin’s KUTX who said, “We won’t recommend making out in the middle of train tracks for obvious safety concerns, but we will urge you to check out the Super 8 music video for ‘Speaking In Tongues’, since it’s such a powerful emotional accompaniment to what sounds like Holy Roller Baby’s Central Texas twist on Radiohead’s ‘Creep,’ high contrast dynamics, unhurried grunge arrangement, impassioned vocal performance, and all. Rock on, Rollers. Rock on.”
Jared displays his impressive vocal range with an airy high register and woozy hum that uplift the title track, “Smile Like Heaven.” He captures a fragile moment fertile with nostalgia.
Of the title track Jared says, “I didn’t do drugs as a kid, and I was that ‘perfect student. I’d climb up on the roof of my childhood home and look at the clouds off in my own universe. I really wanted the song to recreate that feeling of staring at the sky as if you’re on a tripping or like being filmed through a Super 8 camera. It’s a daydreaming song of remembering what it was like as a kid to have nothing to worry about.”
Then, there’s “Girl From The East Side.” An unexpected harmony bops over the bass-driven strut while creepy keyboards surround the lyric, “I’m never coming back.”
The finale of Smile Like Heaven is the track, “Houdini,” layering a heavy blast of guitar on top of a backbeat as Jared poses the eternal question, “Who wants to live forever?”
Jared says, “I hope people hear the fearlessness I brought to this LP with Ian. I’m just trying to channel the emotion of having one’s mind blown the way I did when I first heard rock-n-roll.”
