“he finds transcendence in apocalyptic imagery and beauty in terror…the vision is wholly Holley’s, and the music is his signature ambient-soul: half-spoken, half-crooned, built on pillowy keyboards but almost uncomfortably intense and intimate. His words are improvised, drawing on…attention to sensory detail.” – The Washington Post
“It’s just all so inventive and unlike anything else you’re gonna listen to this week…And the artists that he works with, I think together they bring out the best in each other.” – Robin Hilton, NPR Music
“Lonnie Holley—a visual artist who is now just as well known for his searching, skin-prickling music—incorporates elements of funk, soul, and jazz into his trademark, poetic ambient music.” – Pitchfork
“Oh Me Oh My focuses Holley’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics over gorgeously layered droning instrumentation.” – Paste
“His approach is somewhat reminiscent of that of Tom Waits (for the experimentation), very much that of the late Gil Scott-Heron (for the subject and the jazz and blues roots)….He is above all…witness to an era from which we still have to learn lessons” – Le Devoir
“His poetic lyrics address earthly struggles while pondering our place in the universe, generally expressing messages of hope and encouragement.” – All Music
“Memory provides the source material for ‘Oh Me Oh My,’ the gorgeous new record from the Alabama musician and visual artist Lonnie Holley. Sometimes, those memories are personal: on the stirring, lullaby-like ‘Kindness Will Follow Your Tears,’ which features a tender vocal from Bon Iver, Holley recalls being a baby, hearing the sound of his mother and grandmothers’ voices. Sometimes those memories are collective; on ‘Earth Will Be There,’ one of two searing duets with Moor Mother, Holley contemplates humanity’s precarious place in the universe. And sometimes those memories are bleak and disturbing, as they are on ‘Mount Meigs,’ Holley’s harrowing re-telling of his time in the notoriously abusive Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children. Holley’s voice is uniquely suited to these kinds of topics, capable of capturing wounded ire when the topics veer dark, but also almost supernaturally soothing and comforting in the slower moments, drifting softly through the cloudlike arrangements like a gliding bird. His choice of collaborators augments the album’s mood: Michael Stipe offers a typically heartbreaking and gentle refrain on the title track; Sharon Van Etten hovers in the background of ‘None of Us Have But a Little While’ like a ghost; Rokia Kone proves an effective sparring partner on ‘If We Get Lost They Will Find Us.’ With the exception of Kone and Moor Mother, the rest of the guests are mostly relegated to the background, offering simple shading but never stealing the spotlight from Holley. This is as it should be: in ‘Oh Me Oh My,’ the listener sinks deep into Holley’s dream; the visions he shows us are his and his alone.” — Bandcamp ‘Essential Releases’
