Austin, TX’s Holy Wave have announced their new album, Five Of Cups, will drop August 4 via Suicide Squeeze Records. Check out their psych-tinged single, “Happier” feat Estrella del Sol of Mint Field, now.
“Happier” sounds like it was unearthed from a time capsule buried on a commune in 1970s California, and its accompanying appropriately dark, trippy video, directed by Arturo Baston, only heightens the acid-washed listening experience.
Vocalist/guitarist Ryan Fuson says of the track:
“We had been working on this song on and off again for a while and it all kind of came together right before we started recording this album. The song is loosely a song to Kurt Vonnegut, and a song taking some of his ideas and quotes and exploring them a little further. Mainly just a song about happiness today and maybe where it was during his time. While recording this song we knew that we wanted something unique for the outro, but we didn’t really know what it was that we were looking for, so we sent the song to Estrella and basically asked her to do whatever she thought was right and she completely exceeded our vision. It really took the song to a whole new level, some place we have never been before.”
In Tarot readings, the Five of Cups card signifies loss and grief, and is generally interpreted as representing a forlorn dwelling on the past and an inability to appreciate the positive things in the present. It was this card that struck a chord with Fuson, during a Tarot reading at the height of the pandemic.
Fuson says:
“I was really sure that the music world was finished and it seemed like internet aggression and, well, aggression in general was at an all-time high, so I was ready to stop playing music. It could be so easy to become jaded and pessimistic and I had to really decide what perspective I was going to take.”
Rather than abandon music, Fuson and his compatriots chose to immerse themselves in their work. Fittingly, the Tarot card became the muse for Holy Wave’s sixth full-length album—Five of Cups.
And like early ‘70s Pink Floyd, Holy Wave figured out how to conjure a sense of profound exhilaration out of pathos, filtering dark elements through a lens and bending them into a kaleidoscope of light.
Check out “Happier” below and pre-order/save Five Of Cups here. The band will also be hitting the road in a couple of months—check out tour dates below.
Follow Holy Wave on Twitter and Instagram.
Holy Wave tour dates:
Aug 8 – Andy’s – Denton, TX
Aug 9 – Opolis – Norman, OK
Aug 11 – Back Alley Ballyhoo – Indianapolis, IN
Aug 12 – JJs Bohemia – Chattanooga, TN
Aug 13 – Upstairs at Avondale – Birmingham, AL
Aug 15 – Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL
Aug 16 – Continental Club – Houston, TX
Aug 17 – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX
Images courtesy of Holy Wave/James Oswald.
