The Texan psych-rockers amaze and frustrate in equal measure.
Holy Wave are not a new outfit, they are eighteen years into a career that remains firmly a cult following, though a few singles have generated some listens over the years. 2014’s Relax album is like Sergeant Pepper era Beatles given more of a 70s psych-rock overhaul. They have evolved since then.
The first track of the new album really made us sit up and listen. The first few tracks threaten to suggest this is one of the more musically interesting albums released this year. ‘US54’ is like a mix of Radiohead, Squid, lo-fi shoegaze and a hint of Beck and Boards of Canada as if sung by Badly Drawn Boy. It is a glorious bit of world-building, challenging but enjoyable. Single ‘s33.u.in/HAL’ carries in a similarly exciting vein. The lyrics are hard to decipher. Is Hal a person, a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey? Band member Ryan Fulson describes it as their attempt to make a Wagon Christ song, an eclectic British music producer called Luke Vibert. There are a wave of samples weaving in and out in the background. At this point I genuinely expected to be raving about the album. ‘happy song’ is a slower, almost funky construction. Female vocals are across the top of it unlike the previous tracks.
The album carries on. Any individual track, except one, of the rest of them is perfectly listenable. It is one of those rare occasions where the whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts. The final track on the album is called ‘dewey’s dirge’ and a dirge certainly sums up where a number of the tracks end up. There is a little too much samyness about it. Too much a feeling of half-filled potential. Up until the end of title track ‘i’m DADA’ it just about maintains interest. The next three tracks feel like repetitions, or in the case of ‘to the other’ an absolute void of a track that serves no purpose. ‘dewey’s dirge’ is better, but takes over half the track to get properly going.
Overall there is much to enjoy here, it is just those initial couple of tracks are so strong the second half of the album can’t help but feel like more of a let down.
Essential Tracks: ‘US 54,’ ‘s33.u.in/HAL’ and ‘happy song.’
UK Tour Dates:
4th Sept – Brighton, UK @ Brighton Psych Fest
5th Sept – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest
6th Sept – Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Psych Fest
7th Sept – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
8th Sept – London, UK @ The Lexington
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