RIVAL SONS Guitarist SCOTT HOLIDAY Announces Solo Project HOL1D4Y

RIVAL SONS guitarist Scott Holiday has announced a solo project, HOL1D4Y, and debut album, "Topology", due out September 25, 2026 on RIVAL SONS' label Sacred Tongue Recordings, distributed worldwide via Thirty Tigers.

Holiday has released the first single, "Veridream", today, blending psychedelic rock, cosmic fuzz, proggy synth textures while embracing pop sensibilities.

For more than three decades, Holiday has built a career by following instinct. Before there was an album concept, or even the idea of a solo project, he started a new daily habit: wake up, get in the studio, pick up a guitar, with one rule — write something. Not a finished song, sometimes just a 45-second idea. Just a fragment, then set aside and picked up again the next day. The goal wasn't productivity, it was momentum.

As the collection of sketches grew, Holiday noticed they weren't isolated ideas — they shared a language, leaning into atmosphere, psychedelic experimentation, different textures and rhythms than he previously had worked with. The material felt personal enough that it resisted broad collaboration and asked to develop on its own terms.

Those early sketches were built around improvised drum recordings from longtime collaborator and RIVAL SONS drummer Michael Miley, sent from his home studio. Holiday treated them as raw material rather than finished tracks, cutting and reshaping the performances into the rhythmic foundation of each song. Many of the original performances stayed intact, and Miley ultimately plays drums throughout "Topology".

By the time five compositions had taken shape, Holiday realized he wasn't writing toward another RIVAL SONS record — he was starting a new artistic identity: HOL1D4Y.

Originally conceived as an instrumental project, the music was already developing into full compositions when Holiday brought in keyboardist Jesse Nason to further help shape the project's sound. Nason layered vintage Moog, Mellotron, Oberheim and Prophet synthesizers across the tracks. Every contribution passed back through Holiday, who edited and produced the material into a single body of work.

Then everything stopped. Just minutes from home, Holiday was struck by a car while riding his bike home after an evening with friends. He has no memory of the collision. The accident left him with six broken ribs, a shoulder injury, a head injury, and months of recovery. Unable to move but still thinking creatively, Holiday kept developing the unfinished pieces in his mind. A few compositions remained instrumental; but the rest started asking for lyrics.

"What surprised me was that they stopped feeling like instrumental pieces," Holiday says. "They seemed prepped for a story. Once I realized that, the words came quickly. That's when I knew it was time to step into this new role — I needed to be the one to tell these stories."

For the first time in his career, Holiday sings on his own recordings — less a reinvention than a part of his creative voice that hadn't yet found the right project.

The result is "Topology", the debut HOL1D4Y album, centered on perception rather than genre: awareness, observation, awakening, consciousness, and the patterns that shape how we experience the world. Track titles like "Metacognition", "Panoptic", "Holotropic" and "Equanimity" point to a single question — how does a shift in perspective change the way we experience ourselves in the world?

Sonically, "Topology" sits at the intersection of psychedelic atmosphere, alternative music, progressive exploration and experimental pop: fuzz-soaked guitars, vintage synthesizers, and deeply pocketed drum grooves under shifting arrangements. It draws on the adventurous spirit of '70s progressive music while sounding informed by modern alternative production, prioritizing mood and texture over convention.

Recorded and produced at Holiday's home studio, "Topology" was made independently, without outside creative direction.

"Topology" track listing:

01. Holotropic
02. Panoptic
03. Veridream
04. Autonomatic
05. Constellations
06. Metacognition
07. CRISM
08. Equanimity
09. Love Of Separation

Photo by Rick Horn