In Holy to Dogs, The MIDI Janitor—the project of Vancouver producer Jonathan Orr—delivers a uniquely poignant meditation on memory, obsolescence, and the secret lives of discarded machines. Drawing upon the Gospel According to Thomas for its title, the album’s core revolves around the idea that what’s “holy” may be lost amid the debris of our technological present: here, beats and melodies are conjured from scavenged MIDI keyboards, ancient samplers, and ghosted fragments of the digital past. Orr’s sound world, crafted in the “supply closet” of late-night inspiration, is eerily tactile—steam-powered pulses channel science-fiction dread, while each accidental sonic imperfection is folded into the music’s emotional heart.
From the pixelated sunrise of “Petroglyph Park” and sepia-toned drift of “Far Speak,” through the nostalgic anxiety of “Roman Concrete” and the fractured optimism of “Channel Ridge,” Holy to Dogs oscillates between sweetly decayed haunts and the dopamine trails of forgotten 8-bit arcades. Board of Canada-like moods, vaporous synth textures, and rhythmic fragments abound, constantly cycling from gentle desert melancholy to dark, percussive movement. The effect is immersive and unsettled—each track a distinct journey away from familiarity, but rarely without a glimmer of warmth or humor.
The album’s lo-fi fidelity, intentional and ambient, never undermines its emotional sweep; instead, it amplifies the sense of weariness, longing, and outsider persistence. Orr’s compositions—whether alluding to ancient wisdom or the mundane rituals of cleaning and repair—propose a sonic landscape where art arises from what others have overlooked. Released on Hotham Sound in limited physical and digital formats, Holy to Dogs proves that, in the right hands, the detritus of electronic music’s past can yield honest connection and kinetic beauty.
