London’s elusive new band holybones have released their latest single ‘did you ask for this’, a track that lands with real immediacy.
Drawing on a distinctly nostalgic sonic palette, ‘did you ask for this’ pairs propulsive breakbeat rhythms and textured production with melodic guitar lines and an infectious vocal hook. A sharp social observation, the track unfolds as a restless stream of consciousness, touching on themes of identity, modern disillusionment and overwhelm – channelling a sense of emotional and cultural turbulence that remains a recurring thread throughout the band’s work.
“This track came about from a feeling of life getting almost too unreal to explain, and the disconnect downstream of that. A lot of the song is just about stuff we’ve seen: people performing versions of themselves – to kind of impress or to validate something – and that we catch ourselves doing the same. It’s mainly just about feeling like shit, we guess.”
– holybones
‘did you ask for this’ follows the enigmatic group’s highly praised single ‘SLUGBOY’, featuring Baxter Dury. Bringing together holybones’ dimly lit alt-electronic sound with Dury’s unmistakable lyrical swagger, ‘SLUGBOY’ landed in a space that is both surreal and culturally sharp – a match made for lyrical purists and underground club dwellers alike. Watch the sleazy, fever-dream of a self-directed video, HERE! The track was Huw Stephen’s Roundtable winner on BBC Radio 6Music, while Lauren Laverne claimed it “an absolutely sensational collab!”. On Sunday 26th July, holybones will play the BBC Introducing Stage at Latitude Festival.
holybones released their acclaimed debut EP I got a good night’s sleep last autumn. The six-track collection unfolded as a tale of hope and disconnection, each track a vignette drawn from the lives around them. “We wrote these songs because we were finding it difficult being adults,” say holybones, reflecting on the experience of navigating their twenties amidst the chaos of the city. Sonically, CLASH said of the project: “‘I got a good night’s sleep’ brings their composite sound to life: contemporizing Mike Skinner’s spoken-word dirges, the time stretched moodscapes of post-‘Burial’ Burial, while tapping into a parallel strain of Bricknasty’s restless capture of surround sound dance”. Stream I got a good night’s sleep HERE.
The project included single releases ‘These Are The Rooms’, ‘Saltywater’, ‘What You Talk’ and ‘Everywhere Break’, which saw holybones earn love and plays from the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra, BBC 6Music and Radio X. During the month of February, the band were selected as BBC Radio 1’s Introducing Need To Know artist, which saw the show play a holybones track every week for the month. In addition, press support has come from outlets such as Rolling Stone UK, NME, The Line of Best Fit, CLASH, DIY, HUNGER, Ones To Watch and Wonderland.
holybones released their debut single ‘Dogs’ in 2024 and were consequently selected as one of BBC 6Music’s Ones To Watch for 2025. A creative collective, holybones align their music with surrealist, self-directed visuals. Check them out HERE.
Igniting intrigue in the shadowy corners of London’s underground, the band are beginning to make a name for themselves in the live space. They wrapped on 2025 at The Roundhouse, where they played Pitchfork Festival London (alongside the likes of Oklou, Erika de Casier, Malibu, Nick León & Loukeman) – following a set at Camden Assembly as part of AEG Rising’s Lock In Festival – and have played sold-out shows at favourites such as The Social, Peckham Greyhound, Vespers and Brixton Windmill.
In May, the band played a packed-out set at The Great Escape – CLASH commenting that their “surging intensity proved to make a massive impact” – plus impressed at Motel Mozaïque (MOMO) Festival in Rotterdam. holybones are fresh from supporting Slow Cooked at The Shacklewell Arms.