Behind The Tracks: Holon - Love & Behold (Single) (2026)
“Love & Behold” is the title track from my upcoming album of the same name, and in many
ways, it became the emotional and thematic centrepiece for the entire project. The song
started very simply - just me sitting with an acoustic guitar during a period of major transition
in my life. At the time, I wasn’t trying to write “a single” or even a fully formed song. I was
mostly trying to process emotions and make sense of where I was mentally and emotionally.
The track deals with rediscovering love and vulnerability after the end of a long relationship.
It’s about that strange space between fear and hope - wanting connection again, while also
carrying the scars and uncertainty that come with heartbreak. There’s a line in the song:
“My heart is trapped inside
The armour of content
It’s screaming underneath”
That pretty much captures the emotional starting point of the song. The feeling of having
built a life that might look stable from the outside, but realising that something inside you is
still restless and longing for change.
Musically, the arrangement evolved naturally from those early acoustic sketches. I rarely sit
down with a complete plan - I usually follow where the song wants to go. As more layers
were added, the track gradually grew into this mixture of atmospheric passages, fuzz guitars,
Hammond organ, vocal harmonies, and long instrumental sections. I wanted it to feel
expansive but still emotionally grounded.
One thing I’ve realised over the years is that I’m very drawn to music that slowly reveals
itself. I like songs that build patiently rather than immediately giving everything away. That’s
probably why I ended up in progressive rock in the first place.
The title itself also has a few layers to it. Obviously, it’s a play on the phrase “lo and behold,”
but there’s another meaning hidden inside it. In Norwegian - my native language - the word
“behold” means “to keep.” So for me, the title also became about deciding what to hold onto
and what to let go of. That dual meaning felt deeply connected to the themes of the song
and the album as a whole.
Another major part of this release was creating the music video. I wanted to combine my
technical background with the artistic side of Holon, so I ended up making the video myself
using 3D programming and animation tools like three.js and later Blender. I even wrote
custom code and libraries to create the visual style I wanted. It became this huge rabbit hole
of creativity, maths, frustration, and satisfaction - but I genuinely loved the process.
What makes the project even more unusual is that the visual experience doesn't only exist
as a pre-rendered video. The entire piece can also be rendered in real time inside a web
browser. As someone who spends his days designing GPU hardware and his evenings
making music, being able to bring those two worlds together felt particularly satisfying. It
became a meeting point between my technical and creative sides.
I think “Love & Behold” represents Holon quite well because it balances many sides of what
I’m trying to do: emotional honesty, musical exploration, atmosphere, and attention to detail.
It’s personal, but hopefully also universal enough that listeners can find something of
themselves inside it.
At the end of the day, that’s really what I want music to do - not just entertain, but connect.
Listen to “Love & Behold”
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/no/artist/holon/1745507840
Experience the music video in real time
One of the more unusual aspects of this release is that the music video isn't just a video - it
can actually be rendered in real time inside your web browser (note that you should have a
killer graphics card in order to be able to render it decently).
The project was built using three.js, custom code, and a lot of experimentation with 3D
graphics and animation. It's essentially a fusion of my interests in music, visual art,
programming, and technology.
More Holon
Website: https://holon.band
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holon_music/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holon.official
Bandcamp: https://holonband.bandcamp.com
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