Blessed are the subdued shoegazers Holy Wave, for they are rarely, if ever, in a hurry. Perfectly content to softly bop along with a warped headful of Pet Sounds or stroll beside The Left Banke in a misty, timeless ‘60s pop fog, ribbons of light noise trailing behind, they lazily float between the past and the weird, distorted present without their feet ever touching the ground, their sainted heroes be praised, but never slavishly imitated.
Finding themselves at loose ends, as a 2022 West Coast tour wound down, the Austin, Texas, outfit wandered into Studio 22 in Los Angeles and hashed out a lovely batch of buzzed, psychedelic ephemera. Originally scattered to the four winds, alighting on split 7-inches or digital singles, the gauzy seven tracks moved back home to Studio 22 Singles and B-Sides, a place where abstract, liquid surrealism plays with vintage pop constructs.
Prodigal sons return here, as Holy Wave gravitates to the dreamy reveries of The Clientele on a lush, gently vertiginous “Cowprint,” takes a dip in a rippling, starry “Bog Song” – emerging from the pool a little lightheaded – and turns blissfully nostalgic in a fuzzy, disorienting “Chaparral,” dazed and maybe confused but smiling ear to ear. A playful “Father’s Prayer” evokes wistful memories of Ladybug Transistor, jaunty, colorful blips of electric keyboard bouncing softly, the whole thing wrapped in a thin shroud of choir-like cooing, with the fading instrumental “String Performer” dying to cascading piano as it brushes away summery sonic bugs shooting this way and that.
More of a slow ooze than a slow burn, Studio 22 Singles and B-Sides – preceded by 2023’s Five of Cups – hangs together rather well, all things considered. It drifts and meanders, following Belle and Sebastian to Beach House, a refreshing zephyr blowing in its face while caught up in the clipped groove and airy expanse of “Time Crisis Too.” As the stoned giggling at the conclusion of a downy, yet buoyant, “Away Here” suggests, Holy Wave may be serious about its artistry, but there’s room for whimsy, too.
