Vlad Holiday's debut album finds romance in life's darkest corners

For Immediate Release

November 15, 2024

VLAD HOLIDAY’S DEBUT ALBUM FINDS

ROMANCE IN LIFE’S DARKEST CORNERS

MY FAVORITE DRUG OUT TODAY

VIA ONERPM — STREAM

ALBUM FEATURES COLLABORATIONS WITH

KACEY MUSGRAVES & CAGE THE ELEPHANT’S

MATT SHULTZ

My Favorite Drug album artwork [Download]

“Holiday's signature style is full of character, utilizing vintage microphones, tape machines and old recording equipment. And now, Holiday's lo-fi New York sound has become infused with a Nashville edge in its songwriting and flair.”

“Hazy, sultry”

“When moving at that rate, it becomes a matter of when Holiday will expand and take the indie scene by storm.”

Vlad Holiday has always had to romanticize darkness in order to make it palatable. The down-tempo, lo-fi rock artist had to flee Romania as a child, then finding a home in NYC and now in Nashville; the influence of feeling like an outsider is across all he creates. After releasing music for years, Holiday never envisioned himself wanting to release a full-length album. But as he worked on the songs that now build out today’s debut album My Favorite Drug, the threads that held a larger story together couldn’t be ignored — Stream now via ONErpm.

A vintage gear addict, Holiday recorded most of the album at his home studio. My Favorite Drug dives into a lot of dark subject matter, but shows Holiday as a character very much so in the middle of his journey. He openly sings about low moments in his mental health, substance abuse, the thin line between sanity and insanity, and cyclical patterns of familial abuse, all to place an element of love into life’s heaviest topics.

Taking inspiration from the 1950s and 60s, spaghetti Westerns, jazz lounges, hip-hop beats, Twin Peaks, and drenching it all in reverb, Holiday’s debut has no shortage of notable collaborations. Joined by Kacey Musgraves on the mischievous and sultry “I Don’t Wanna Party Anymore,” the duo seeks to end the cycle of crashing hard after partying and being sucked right back in by an enabling partner. And on “Closer,” which was co-written by Cage The Elephant’s Matt Shultz, the careful listener can hear Shultz’s voice singing the “ah ah ah ah” hook and some repeated “closers” in the outro.

"This record all revolves around my mental health journey,” shared Holiday. “There was no vision when I started it. I was just using writing for therapeutic reasons and never planned to write a full album. But as it started to formulate, it became clear to me that these songs should be one body of work. Writing the album helped me get through some incredibly intense times and saved me in a way. It's definitely extremely personal and emotional for me.”

Press photo by Nicole Mago [Download]

Over the last few months, Holiday has been busy on tour with a mix of his own headline shows, supporting Cage The Elephant and Declan McKenna, and making his Austin City Limits debut. In all different performance formats, he was praised for transporting listeners to a trance-like dream. At radio, Holiday is currently charting at #9 on Sub-Modern Albums and #21 on Submodern Singles (“This Was Always Gonna End”).

My Favorite Drug Tracklist [Download]

ABOUT VLAD HOLIDAY:

Vlad Holiday has made a career of romanticizing the past, the human condition, and looking at love and relationships through dark-tinted lenses. With downtempo crooner tracks all tinged with melancholy, Holiday has built a sonic world of his own that tries to find comfort in accepting the darker moments in life. Having gained over 40 million streams as a completely independent artist, it seems as if he’s resonating with a subculture of people that are also trying to do the same.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, later having to flee to New York, and now based in Nashville, Holiday’s sound is heavily shaped by the weight of feeling like an outsider always on the move. Building the foundation of his music career with a downtown NYC lo-fi sound, he’s deeply indebted to his love for vintage microphones, tape machines and other old recording equipment; key elements of his signature sound and production style.

Now in Nashville, there’s an optimism to Holiday’s current chapter as he builds out his debut album My Favorite Drug. Recently, he co-wrote Cage The Elephant’s “Neon Pill,” “Metaverse” and “Over Your Shoulder” before spending the summer on the road opening for them. Matt Shultz and Kacey Musgraves are just two of the collaborators that can be heard on Holiday's upcoming record. After making his Austin City Limits debut, Holiday is now out on the road with Declan McKenna.

However bright the current moment may be, flecks of Holiday’s past always steep his music in a darkness that shows that he is a human in the middle of his journey.

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For all Vlad Holiday press materials and inquiries, please contact:

Madi Florence | madi@bighassle.com