The most revealing element of Scott Holiday’s new single may be its rhythm. “Veridream” carries a substantial guitar presence, as expected from the Rival Sons co-founder, but the song’s real direction comes from the way Michael Miley’s drums shift beneath the arrangement.
Miley originally recorded improvised performances at his home studio and sent them to Holiday without fully developed songs attached. Holiday then sliced, reordered, and shaped the recordings into foundations for the music that became TOPOLOGY. That method gives “Veridream” an unusual combination of looseness and precision.
The groove breathes like a live take, even as the structure feels edited and deliberately assembled. Guitar phrases appear and disappear around the beat, while Jesse Nason’s vintage synthesizers add layers that range from soft melodic color to a hazier, almost cosmic presence.
As a solo introduction, “Veridream” wisely avoids placing Holiday’s guitar at the center of every moment. There are strong tones and bursts of fuzz, but the track is concerned with the interaction among its parts. That approach makes HOL1D4Y feel like a real project rather than a vehicle for unused riffs.
Holiday’s vocals are similarly integrated. TOPOLOGY is the first record on which he serves as lead singer, a decision that emerged after the album had already begun taking shape. The songs were initially planned as instrumentals, but several compositions gradually developed an implied narrative that Holiday felt responsible for articulating.
His voice has a grounded, unpolished quality that fits the material. It does not carry the theatrical force associated with Rival Sons singer Jay Buchanan, and Holiday does not appear interested in competing with that model. He favors a closer, conversational delivery, allowing the production to supply the scale.
The word “Veridream” describes the desire for a self that can be glimpsed in dreams but remains difficult to access in waking life. The idea gives the song a clear conceptual center, though its lyrics and music leave room for listeners to decide whether that imagined self represents freedom, illusion, or some combination of both.
HOL1D4Y began with daily fragments recorded in Holiday’s home studio. There was no original plan for a release, and the writing practice appears to have succeeded partly because it removed the pressure to complete anything. The eventual album grew through accumulation, revision, and an increasing recognition that the material belonged outside Rival Sons.
Its development was interrupted by a serious bicycle accident that left Holiday with broken ribs, a shoulder injury, and a head injury. Unable to work physically, he continued arranging music mentally during his recovery. When he returned to the recordings, lyrics became a larger part of the project.
That story gives TOPOLOGY a dramatic history, but “Veridream” succeeds because its production carries the concept independently. The track feels tactile and carefully balanced, with enough melodic clarity to pull listeners through its less conventional turns.
The album’s nine songs include “Holotropic,” “Panoptic,” “Autonomatic,” “Constellations,” “Metacognition,” “CRISM,” “Equanimity,” and “Love of Separation.” Together, they promise a wider investigation of consciousness, relationships, and the structures that connect apparently separate experiences.
For an artist strongly associated with guitar-based rock, HOL1D4Y represents a meaningful change in emphasis. “Veridream” still has weight, but its most interesting choices happen in the spaces surrounding that weight.
