It is not a surprise that we are ending November on Indieterria with a song about a creature with many, thin long legs. The eleventh month of the year is usually considered scary: with Halloween, gloomy weather and dark evenings, it is the spooky season indeed. And we had a nice selection of creepy songs to enjoy on the blog this fall. From “The Haunted” by Re:0, “Final Girl” from Watertaplucy to I See Orange`s “La Bruja” and new offerings from Chaidura. If you enjoy eclectic, genre bending music with dark undertones then you will love the new single from Holly Henderson. Not so much, if you happen to suffer from arachnophobia.
“Leggy Man” single cover
Official bio: Holly Henderson is a 29-year-old composer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Maidstone, Kent. Her album The Walls (released Feb 10th 2023) received critical acclaim from Clash Magazine, BBC London, BBC Introducing, BBC Upload, Frank Skinner/Absolute Radio, Cerys Matthews, What’s On Guide, Vents Magazine, BBC 6’s Fresh On The Net, Shindig Magazine and Prog Magazine. As a producer, she is a winner of Best Rock Production Music Track at PMAs 2023 and Production Music Award for Best Rock Track 2022. Her credits, clients, and co-writers include: Universal Production Music, Gramoscope, Warner Music, Tommy Scott (Space), Mel Gaynor (Simple Minds), Pete Thorn (Chris Cornell), Blair Sinta (Alanis Morissette), Freddie Cowan (The Vaccines), Jon Button (The Who/Sheryl Crow) among many others.
You may have guessed. “Leggy Man” is about a spider, or to be exact, about getting the spider out of your room and your house, carrying it in a glass outside at a late hour. Anything, so you can sleep without the sensation that somewhere in a dark corner, this tiny arachnid is waving a web and is about to consume a fly.
Holly Henderson is not the first artist to dedicate a track to a spider. According to Google there are over 60 songs about these creatures (that is not including children songs) and bands such as Space have whole albums named after the arthropods. But Holly may be the first to compose a baroque pop ballad about evicting a spider from one’s home. And funny that I already mentioned Space, a group known for their love of mashing different genres of music together to create eccentric yet absolutely genius pop tunes.
In my eyes, Holly Henderson is on the same wavelength as Thomas Scott. There are no limits to her curiosity and trying out new things. She incorporates California Sound, blue grass, folk, psychedelia, rock, music hall with traditional Liverpudlian indie a la The La`s or Cast. It is almost a glorious return of the “retro-gazing” (a term widely used in the 90s to describe Second Wave of Britpop acts such as The Dandys or Rialto). If you haven’t been familiar with her catalogue, do so immediately. Holly`s voice alone is worth a PhD thesis. The things she can do with it: one moment she is living on the Yellow Submarine, the very next second she is Charlotte Church or Nerina Pallot. She may have been on the scene for less than a decade and just 29 years old, but in the span of eight years she recorded three EPs, three albums, a bunch of stand-alone singles and toured the UK, Europe and Mexico. The list of her credits is enough to get a vertigo. How come Holly Henderson isn’t signed to a major remains a mystery, or rather a sad commentary on the hearing capabilities of those who call themselves A&Rs at the majors these days. You guys are deafer than my old deaf cat, with apologies to my poor Athanbasca, it wasn’t her fault, she was born that way. You have two working ears and do not make use of either of them.
“Leggy Man” artwork
But back to arachnids. “Leggy Man” was recorded with a full band sometime in August this year, in an attic studio, as all songs written about spiders should be. Holly Henderson was responsible for guitars, vocals, production and mastering, with Lauren Taylor taking on drums and percussion, Harry Morley on piano/keys and additional guitar, Andrew Gladwell on bass and Wallace on violins. Allow me to make a small observation on the side of this review, but there are some incredible advantages of living in a digital era. Click on the links in this paragraph and you can see the recording process, the people involved and the studio itself in sound and vision. That would be impossible had this article been written thirty years ago or even published in a paper magazine today. We get so much more than a first row seat to the very act of creativity; it is (pardon the pun) a fly on the wall privilege of seeing this particular song being put together.
“Leggy Man” is a lullaby or a waltz of sorts. It starts softly, almost as if with an apology only to ascend into an uplifting chorus, backed up by violas and piano. It stands only at two minutes and fifteen seconds but it leaves a powerful impression. It beats more elaborate songs from big artists.
I sometimes feel very humbled when reviewing artists from the indie circuit. Some musicians have talents that are way too big for a niche blog like Indieterria. Holly Henderson is someone who should be reviewed in The Guardian and discussed at Mercury Prizes and Grammies. The fact that it doesn’t happen just depresses and angers me both in equal measures. In this day and age an independent circuit produces possibly the best music in three or so decades and hardly anything gets through. If anyone has any idea how to change things, our DMs are open and the email address is on the website.
Anyway, there will be an interview with Holly published on our blog in December and we hope you enjoy this article and the song itself. And if by any chance, you will find a spider in your bedroom tonight, get it out or at least sleep in another room…
You can follow Holly on social media:
https://hollyhendersonmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/hollyhendersonmusic
https://bsky.app/profile/hollyhenderson.bsky.social
https://www.tiktok.com/@hollyhendersonofficial
https://www.instagram.com/hollyhendersonofficial
https://soundcloud.com/hollyhenderson
https://hollyhendersonmusic.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/@HollyHendersonMusic
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7f5KWiL31ELrLeFHsJIhs4
Extra reading:
https://ifyouwriteittheywillcome.wordpress.com/holly-henderson
Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 