Every generation or so, a pop record arrives that makes you wonder what everyone else has been doing. Sabrina Holt's sophomore album Golden Hour is one of those records. It doesn't announce itself loudly. It starts quietly — a piano, her voice, a room that sounds like 3am — and then it dismantles you over the course of twelve songs with the kind of emotional precision that most artists spend entire careers chasing.
Track by Track: The Highlights
'Porcelain' (Track 2)
A song about the performance of strength — appearing fine, being far from it — that manages to be both deeply personal and universally legible. The melody in the bridge is the kind that sits in your chest for days.
'Golden Hour' (Track 5, Title Track)
The centrepiece and the peak. Holt's writing is at its most precise here — describing the exact quality of light during a particular afternoon, the way time slows when you know something is ending. It might be the best song anyone's written this year.
“Golden Hour doesn't want to soundtrack your morning commute. It wants to become part of how you remember this year.”
— FACE Arena Music
Rating: 9.5/10
Golden Hour is the kind of album that only happens once every few years. Mandatory listening.
