After maintaining a more than fifteen year presence as a member of the popular indie rock band Young The Giant, Eric Cannata decided it was time to explore his own individual sound.
The guitarist and songwriter has successfully taken that leap, and is set to release his first solo album, Holding Onto The Holy, on January 24th, 2025.
Drawing inspiration from vintage 60s and 70s artists like Roy Orbison, The Velvet Underground, Henry Nilsson and others, Cannata began searching for his sound during the isolated days of the pandemic. Collaborating with his wife and fellow songwriter, Hannah Connolly, along with his father Ernie Cannata who plays keys, the family affair of music is inspired by childhood cartoons and daydreams.
The first singles to greet airwaves this year -- "There You Go Again" and "The Wave" -- are both accompanied by music videos with a vintage and candid feel. "The Wave" offers a groovy psych-rock energy while "There You Go Again" is a sweet jangle-pop type love song.
His latest single, "Like You Do," dropped yesterday, December 13th, and his next single before the album, "Fruit," is set to release January 10th. Cannata will be performing at The Basement in Nashville January 27th for his Holding Onto The Holy tour, along with Connolly, in which is sure to be a sweet husband and wife moment.
We had the opportunity to chat with Cannata about the upcoming album, his work with Young The Giant, collaborating with his wife, and much more.
Here we are at the end of another year. Have you had any notable highlights this year musically speaking or otherwise?
This year I married my amazing wife and artist Hannah Connolly, finished my first full-length solo record, Holding Onto The Holy, and toured the US and Canada with my band Young the Giant.
Sounds like a memorable year to me! Speaking of the new album, can you talk about when and why you decided to pursue this solo venture?
I have been writing and producing music for many years, putting out collaborative records with Young the Giant and other bands, and helping fellow artists produce their projects. As much as I love being collaborative, I also love solitude, and working alone. My first solo release was an EP called Lonely Beast in 2020. With Holding Onto the Holy, I wanted to write and record songs for the pure joy of creativity and exploration. Where I felt Lonely Beast was more restrained and melancholic, I feel Holding Onto The Holy covers a wider scope of my personality. The reason I made a solo album is to learn, grow, and internally explore everything I love about music and expression.
And what's the significance or inspiration behind the album title? Stemming off of that, can you talk about common themes and threads within the collection of songs?
The title Holding Onto the Holy is about being grateful for and giving focus to the good in life, especially while the world feels like it's falling apart. It's a reminder to myself to hold close the relationships in my life, with my wife, family, friends, music, a flower, or the clouds. These days it's very easy to fall into detaching and doom scrolling, and making this album was a practice for me in being present and emotive. Themes on the record include love, anxiety, aging, slowing down, and celebrating where you are in life.
Is there a song or two that may mean the most to you personally or perhaps you just feel most strongly about?
A couple songs on the record that mean a lot to me are "Crystal Ball" and "Like You Do." "Crystal Ball" was a song I wrote early on in the process, and the chorus lyrics, "Make a decision and roll" helped me be more decisive and commit to finishing the record. Additionally, my father, Ernie Cannata, played piano on this song, which was a very special experience for both of us.
"Like You Do" was a song I wrote initially on piano, and is a love song to my wife Hannah, who helped me finish the lyrics. I felt like it was a good close to the album as the final lyrics in the outro are, "All I ever need is someone who loves me / Can't believe I found somebody like you." In a way, this sums up the message of the album as a whole.
Did you find determining the order of songs on this album to be a challenge, and how important is that to you?
Album order is very important to me. I wanted to make sure the songs flowed in a way that felt cohesive and told a story. This record felt pretty intuitive when I sat down to arrange the tracklisting, there seemed to be a natural flow that songs belonged in. "There You Go Again" always felt like the opener to the record because it was the first song I wrote for this album. "Like You Do" was always the closing track in my mind, because it has a sense of resolve and peace.
How does working as a solo artist compare to your time in Young The Giant?
Working as a solo artist is a different shade of the creative process. For Holding Onto the Holy, it involved a lot of experimentation in my home studio in solitude. When working alone, I tend to write and record song ideas at the same time. I build tracks up, layering instrumentation until I feel inspired to sing or write lyrics. I'm bouncing ideas off of myself, which is a very internal process. With Young the Giant, the creative process is very collaborative, we are bouncing ideas off of each other, which leads to songs that feel bigger than any one of us.
I appreciate all the different ways of working, as they each act as a way to balance my creative energy. No matter what project I'm working on, whether it's solo, with Young the Giant, or another artist, I always learn new tricks, sounds, or perspectives that often inform future projects. It's all cumulative.
What was the experience like collaborating with your wife Hannah Connolly and filming your music videos?
Collaborating with Hannah is a joy. We've worked on many projects together over the years, and I always learn a lot from her perspective and ideas. I had the pleasure of helping her with her most recent record, Shadowboxing, and she helped me with lyrics and singing on a couple of the songs off of my album. Also, for the "There You Go Again" music video, she brought so much to the story, and helped bring the video to life.
What was the most challenging part of making this album?
The most challenging part of making this album was having to put deadlines and structures in place in order to finish it. I tend to overthink, and this record was a practice in following my gut, making quick decisions and committing to takes, even if they were raw or imperfect. A lot of times my favorite parts of a record are the mistakes and human-ness. I tried to push myself to leave that part of these recordings intact.
What do you hope listeners take away from your upcoming album?
I hope people who listen to my record feel inspired to be present with the people and things that mean the most to them. These songs were so much fun to write and record, and I hope that comes through when listening.
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