Review: San Holo & Broods Team Up for an “Honest” Song of Intimate Connection

Honest - San Holo & Broods © Dolly Ave
Honest - San Holo & Broods © Dolly Ave
A hypnotic outpouring of intimate emotion, San Holo and Broods’ new single “Honest” taps into a universal desire for human connection we can all relate to on a deep level.
Stream: “Honest” – San Holo, Broods




I just want us to be honest even if nothing comes from it.

Honesty really is the best policy – even moreso when it comes in the form of a transcendent song. A hypnotic outpouring of intimate emotion, San Holo and Broods’ new single “Honest” taps into a universal desire for human connection we can all relate to on a deep level.

Honest - San Holo & Broods © Dolly Ave
Honest – San Holo & Broods © Dolly Ave
How can I try to keep it hidden
when I’m feeling like
you’re reading my mind?
High and I don’t know
what I’m thinking
but I’m talking to you like a can’t lie

Released January 31, “Honest” comes years in the making, arriving as both artists’ first release of 2020. The result of a blind studio session finds Sander van Dijck (aka San Holo) and Broods’ Georgia Nott putting her best work forward in creating a sweet, sonically immersive platform to ponder and reflect on important, meaningful topics. Keeping in line with the song off Broods’ 2019 album Don’t Feed the Pop Monster (released nearly a year ago to the day), “Honest” is thoughtful and instantly relatable; meanwhile, as a San Holo production, the track straddles the line between EDM and more traditional indie pop sounds.

Things come to a climax in an emotional chorus that swells with that innate longing to connect with another and venture under the surface, beneath the hood together. Georgia Nott sings, her voice ringing out in a flood of pristine synthy goodness:

‘Cause I don’t know you
You don’t know me
But I wanna go anywhere you’re gonna be
Ooooh, I just want us to be honest
Even if nothing comes from it, no
Come with me
Something so true in the ways that we speak
Ooooh, I just want us to be honest
I just want us to be honest
San Holo & Broods © Dolly Ave
San Holo & Broods © Dolly Ave



“We wrote this special song about three years ago. I changed the drop more times than I could count, because for a long time I tried to make it into something that didn’t feel true to myself,” San Holo tells Atwood Magazine. “Radio friendly. Accessible. Commercial. Call it what you want! The music industry can be a crazy place and it’s easy to get lost in all the opinions and noise that come with it. In the end, the original meaning of the song really sank in and I ended up going with the very first version I ever made. There’s something magical about the first spark of inspiration. You can hear it, it’s real, exciting, vibrant, as it comes from a close, honest place within.”

The music industry can be a crazy place and it’s easy to get lost in all the opinions and noise that come with it.

Broods’ Georgia Nott adds to Dijck’s excitement, speaking to the ease with which these disparate figures came together over a shared love of music and creation. “Writing ‘Honest’ with San, Nate and Kyle was one of the loveliest days. Even though I was meeting everyone for the first time, it felt so natural and exciting, the way making music should be. The song came out pretty effortlessly and it wasn’t till after that I realised how real it was to me.”

I love how I hear it in your silence,
there’s no need for you to say it out loud
Closer now, nothing in between us,
let’s keep everything between us, no doubt.
And I am never this person
Never this certain
But you got me willing to try
Willing to try – I wanna try

A new year (we can still say that – we checked) brings with it boundless thoughts about rejuvination and refreshing potential. Together, San Holo and Broods have delivered a special song that taps into this feeling of a new beginning: “Honest” is human; it’s humble; it’s vulnerable and raw. Stream the entrancing new song, out now!

Cause I don’t know you
You don’t know me
But I wanna go anywhere you’re gonna be
Oh, I just want us to be honest
Even if nothing comes from it
Now come with me
Something so true in the ways that we speak, oh
I just want us to be honest

— —

:: stream/purchase “Honest” here ::
Stream: “Honest” – San Holo, Broods



— — — —

Honest - San Holo & Broods © Dolly Ave

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? © Dolly Ave
art © Thorwald @thorwaldbitbird 

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