Holy Wire – Band of the Month [July]

Our featured band/artist this month is Austin, TX new wave / synthpop / electropop project Holy Wire.

Holy Wire is the project of Alain Paradis, who drew inspiration from his time living in Park Slope, Brooklyn. As HW, Paradis has carved out a niche by reimagining early post-punk and cold-wave sounds as hi-fi synth-pop. Following a turbulent relationship and leaving his social cocoon in Bushwick, he spent nights drinking at pubs and darting across the city, meeting women via dating apps. “I always lacked a sense of belonging,” says Paradis, “it just felt like this cosmic wash of winter darkness.”

After floating around Brooklyn and playing in a few bands (Fixtures, Miserable Chillers, Your Dream Coat), Paradis’ long search for community brought him to Austin’s music scene, where he relocated in 2021. Paradis resurrected his years-forgotten solo project, and enlisted a rotating cast of musicians for the live show, with members of DAIISTAR, Pelvis Wrestley, and TC Superstar making cameos. Since its inception, Holy Wire has opened for The KVB, Urban Heat, and Xeno and Oaklander.

Speaking about what influence his music, Paradis told AnalogueTrash:

“When I picked this project back up, I went back to bands that were doing something that I’d lost sight of. I’d started to veer too much towards straight electro, too aggressive and quantized, so I went back to modern bands like LCD Soundsystem, The Chromatics, Black Marble, Future Islands, that felt more like a band using electronic sounds than electronic music per se. And 80s bands that were at the forefront of the movement, like DAF, New Order, OMD, Depeche Mode, etc. I wanted to get back to both the raw and ethereal quality of bands that I love.”

His debut LP, produced by Abe Seiferth (Nation of Language, Yeasayer), features ten polished new wave and synth tracks. Read more: Album of the Week: Holy Wire “The Ending Of An Age”.

Follow Holy Wire:

Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, Bandcamp, Youtube

FFO: Depeche Mode, Icehouse, New Order, Nation of Language, OMD…

Photo credit: @goldcatstudios