Austin new-wave torch-bearers Holy Wire have carved out a niche taking early post-punk and cold-wave sounds and refashioning them into hi-fi synth-pop. Their new single, I Still Feel Alone All The Time, doubles down on this approach, refining a style that’s somewhere between Grauzone and Hall And Oates. The music hangs on a precipice where robotic drums, rigid basslines, and synthetic blips out of a soviet laboratory give way to a gauzy, dreamlike chorus. Icy synths ebb and flow, instilling a sense of perpetual winter.
Sung from the perspective of talking to a lover, I Still Feel Alone All The Time touches on a greater sense of loneliness; of living in a crowded city, seemingly brimming with opportunities for connection, but just as alienating. “Between all the restless bodies / we’ll find a dark place to meet / I’ll leave in the middle of the night / with no promises left to keep,” the vocals croon over a mechanical beat.Holy Wire is the project of Alain Paradis, who drew inspiration from his time living in Park Slope, Brooklyn. After ending a turbulent relationship and moving away from his social enclave in Bushwick, he spent nights drinking at the local bars and darting around the city meeting women through 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), his prolonged search for community eventually led Paradis to the music scene in Austin, Texas, where he moved in 2021. Paradis cannibalized a years-forgotten solo project, reminted as Holy Wire, 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.
