New Indie: Goth Fight Cage + “I’m Going Out.”

7 Sept

A candid, soft-touched release from the Belfast solo-artist

Belfast indie solo-artist Goth Fight Cage

Created by Mark Holloway, Goth Fight Cage is a transcendent, transformational project driven by a strong DIY ethos. From the fuzzy pop debut single ‘Optimism’, to the vulnerability laid bare on this new acoustic double single, Holloway brings whatever meaning he chooses to Goth Fight Cage.

Writing, recording, producing and engineering every track, while simultaneously being the creative force behind videos, photos and artwork, Holloway is a jack of all trades, in true indie fashion. An intensely personal new release, as with all his work, the new singles were written and recorded in his bedroom studio, a space that seems to offer solace from the world as much as it is antagonistic.

The concept of place is particularly intrinsic to first track, ‘I’m Going Out’, which is punctuated throughout with a persistent pitter patter dance of the Irish rain against the skylight. From the outset, the release feels intimate and highly personal, “as if we are privy to something we weren’t ever meant to hear”. Though melancholic, there’s such a sweetness to these quiet, private moments, where Holloway offers somewhat of a comfort to listeners that need to escape - to slow the pace of life for just a few minutes.

Starting off as a finger-picking exercise that gave way to a melody, the opening guitar is played on an acoustic hollow body, giving the song its unique, narrative sound. Lyrically, Holloway speaks of a restlessness felt in himself, where he was living, and the direction his life was taking, coupled with an intense desire to flee, but burdened with the knowledge that was unlikely to happen. In the production side of things, the spoken word sample applied over the artist’s voice in the latter half of the track, nods to his time in France, and as a rugby fan, did give me a bit of a needed giggle. Just listen (and maybe look up Ronan O’Gara).

A potent sadness nevertheless runs deep through the core of this track, which Holloway describes as a “a partial reflection of the Irish winter forcing us inside”. The accompanying video, which was entirely shot on his street, captures the futile attempts to flee but never making it further than the car.

B-side ‘Stop + See’, while still in the downbeat acoustic arena, has a discernible pop lilt to it, helped in no small part by an old organ synth ran through an old undated Peavey amp. It brings a little touch of French band Air to the post chorus, like a sliver of respite to the melancholia. Lyrically, the track searches for a way through past digressions: “The brutal self-reflections that raise their ugly heads in the dark of night and how we deal with those”.

Though both tracks were initially conceived for a different project with bigger productions, the idea to strip them back and release them during what many consider an unsettled time in the Irish calender, was for us, a perfect choice. Holloway’s honesty and albeit, sense of yearning that latches onto this track, has potential to resonate deeply with very many, very different people, and their very quiet moments.