Holy Wave

Holy Wave is a five-piece band from Austin whose music brings garage and shoegaze elements into psychedelic rock. They had never quite engaged in collective trip-outs or produced walls of distorted guitar noise to begin with, and whatever rough edges they had early on have been smoothed out, making their music grow more even-keeled over time. What this has opened up for them is the dreamy, hazy sound that drifts ever so slowly towards dream pop. Whether they are experimenting with lo-fi or they are all in on a polished sound (or in between), the songs have an ethereal quality about them. There is enough reverb in the guitars and vocals to keep the audience in the psychedelic headspace, though. The melodies have a strong Pink Floyd flavor, the Syd Barrett years.