Holly Waxwing – Peach Winks
6.25.15 by Mike Haley

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Apparently Holly Waxwing has spent the last couple of years incorporating cray-cray cyborg tech into his flesh and blood self, or possibly he’s been transitioning into a half human / half cartoon character that can fly. Or maybe it’s both. I’ll explain… My extremely pleasant introduction to Garrett Crosby’s work came at the end of summer ’13 with the savory, rain forest retreat soundtrack “Goldleaf Acrobatics”. A steamy, mellow adventure from the Alabama artist, who also conducts Noumenal Loom operations. With the freshly dropped “Peach Winks” C28 Holly Waxwing has injected a shot of hyper-tropicalism into his luminous repertoire. The sun still shines on every second of sound produced, but buckets of marbles are poured over it as well.

Accepting and morphing cues from artists like Giant Claw and 食品まつりa.k.a Foodman, “Peach Winks” is dosed with frenzied shots of footwork and vaporwave(ish) inspiration. Vocal samples are clipped and spritzed, sometimes in micro-pixel portions. Along with a MIDI-buffet they compose jumpy, agitated arrangements with totally controlled chaos. Holly Waxwing doesn’t allow himself to get stuck in the mud for a moment on “Peach Winks”, instead relentlessly exploring every sonic crevice and dazzlingly cavern. The opener, Chalant, probes an accelerated new jack swing style. pitching  up vocals and deploying them into a field of high-strung rhythms, beats, and occasional glass shattering samples. While a track like the closing Vibe goes total Donkey Kong Country all over your brain. It’s nearly impossible to predict what motley arrangement of whoomps and plops Holly Waxwing will deliver from one moment to the next, making the fact that side A is given another go on the flip almost not worth mentioning (I’ll still mention it though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). But you’re gonna find new tidbits of excitement to latch onto with each play.

Vienna-based digital artist Aoto Oouchi provided the cover goop, Keith Rankin, laid it out, and Noumenal Loom had 150 copies dubbed up for your pleasure. I highly suggest taking them up on this offer right now.