Holy Wave

The Texas psychedelic outfit Holy Wave cultivates a subdued style in their recordings, evoking performers who have barely stirred by the moment the tapes begin turning. Blending drowsy shoegaze textures with garage rock steeped in reverb and gradual psych unfoldings, the five-piece unit quietly asserted itself as one of the more rewarding acts from that period. Early efforts such as the 2011 release Knife Hits tilted toward the garage rock dimension, yet the group soon incorporated additional vintage synths; by the arrival of the 2020s, albums including Interloper and Five of Cups distributed equal emphasis between trippy guitars and resonant keyboards.

Holy Wave originated in 2008 after multi-instrumentalists Kyle Hager and Julián Ruiz chose to depart their El Paso origins in favor of Austin’s more supportive musical setting. Once Ryan Fuson, Joey Cook, and Dustin Zozaya joined the roster, the ensemble shaped a style that incorporated garage rock, hazy psychedelic hues, and reverberant shoegaze. Every participant helped shape the compositions and rotated among whichever instruments suited each piece. Having built recognition locally in Austin and becoming frequent participants at the yearly Austin Psych Fest, Holy Wave issued their debut LP, 2011’s Knife Hits. The quintet followed with the 2012 EP The Evil Has Landed, after which those initial two projects appeared together on the 2013 compilation Evil Hits.

The band devoted time to road work and refinement, introducing drones alongside additional strata of dreamlike reverb; early in 2014 they delivered their second full-length album, Relax, via a collaboration between Reverberation Appreciation Society and Burger Records. The next year brought The Evil Has Landed, Pt. 2, comprising B-sides from Relax together with demos intended for the subsequent LP Freaks of Nurture. That record was produced by the band alongside the active Austin producer Erik Wofford and appeared on Reverberation Appreciation Society in early 2016. Holy Wave then embarked on further touring, including their customary stop at Austin’s Levitation Festival and a Fuzz Club session captured in London that surfaced at the start of 2017. The members spent the remainder of the year on the road alongside Hope Sandoval while developing their fourth album.

Adult Fear, issued in 2018, was produced by Dillon Fernandez of the garage rock band Leather Girls and adopted a drier, mildly unsettled tone that permitted Holy Wave to introduce eerie touches into their unhurried material. Another stretch of touring ensued before the group returned to the studio. Collaborating with producer Charles Godfrey at his Scary American facility, the musicians departed from precedent by completing one track at a time, introducing more keyboards than previously, and, for the first time, assigning lead vocal duties to each member in turn. The resulting album, Interloper, reached listeners in July 2020. Following extended reflection amid the COVID-19 pandemic regarding their desire to persist with music-making, the band commenced work on a fifth album. Incorporating contributions from Estrella del Sol of Mint Field along with Lorelle Meets the Obsolete’s Lorena Quintanilla and Alberto Gonzalez, 2023’s Five of Cups finds the ensemble advancing along the keyboard-centered, atmospherically relaxed course established by its predecessor.