i’m DADA by Holy Wave–Album Review
i’m DADA by Holy Wave–Album Review
I was excited when I found out that neo-psychedelic veterans Holy Wave would be releasing their eighth studio album, i’m DADA, but when I heard the record’s lead single, “s33.u.in/HAL”, my excitement morphed into fascination. Many attributes that define Holy Wave’s discography have been built into what feels like a “final form.” The guitar work feels more shoegaze-inspired than ever. The electronic elements that have long been present in their music have evolved into what feels like a very Beatles-esque studio-as-an-instrument type of approach. The melodies are as catchy as any indie pop song that goes viral on TikTok these days. However, even with this preemptive taste of what was to come, I did not accurately anticipate what this album would be like. This song being chosen as the lead single was a masterful decision—like seeing a trailer for a film that captures your attention without giving the entire plot away.
I’m obsessed with albums that transport you to a hyper-specific place for the entirety of the experience, a place that is describable but remains unnamed. I feel that this attribute is rare but, if you’re an adventurous listener who values atmosphere, you can find records like this across all major genres. A great example of this is Zaba by Glass Animals. This is the quality that immediately stood out to me on i’m DADA.
There are two particularly notable things that happen across this entire tracklist: an ever-present atmosphere that swallows the listener whole and a voyeuristic sound collage that feels like both a glitch in the matrix as well as secretly peering into the intimate moments of a person’s life. These two elements should be at odds with each other. One creates the illusion of an enveloping environment, while the other interrupts it with sounds that exist outside traditional musical structures. However, on i’m DADA, this is very much not the case. These sounds—most notably speaking voices—are essential to this living, breathing setting.
I suspect a reason why the “setting” feels so prominent on this album is that it was also important to the creation of the record, with the band building it across the border in Mexico. You can hear this across the tracklist, especially on tracks such as “lull” and “first DAE,” where unique rhythms and unconventional structures create a sense of freedom or adventure for some listeners. This entry into their discography feels especially made for putting on a pair of headphones, closing your eyes, and allowing yourself to drift through the album. At around 45 minutes, that experience would be well worth the price of admission.
James Oswald
The album title has a double meaning, with “DADA” referencing both fatherhood and the artistic movement of Dadaism, which rejected traditional structures in favor of experimentation, collage, and chance. This brings us to the sound collage element. Many clips, samples, glitches, and miscellaneous sounds are littered throughout the album but become more prominent once you reach “lull.” The song immediately signals this shift through little beeps and taps scattered throughout. However, as you reach the end, the sound begins glitching in an unignorable and somewhat rhythmic pattern leading into the title track, which opens with what appears to be a candid, “field recording” type sample that has been manipulated and seamlessly blended into the track. Interestingly, the sample appears unintelligible while also still communicating specific feelings of intimacy. When paired with the intensely personal lyrics of the song, this feels like an intentional choice that serves as a metaphor for attempting to cut through the noise of daily life to communicate something important.
On the topic of communication, it wouldn’t be controversial to say this is their most personal album in terms of subject matter. Besides parenthood, the songs are about numerous quintessential moments of the modern human experience including breakups, social estrangement and the rise of AI. Then there is the complex closing track, “dewey’s dirge,” which acts as the album’s thematic and emotional comedown and captures a very relevant and relatable feeling of watching the world change for the worse. It has been described by vocalist Kyle Fuson as “being in a perfect time and place, only to watch it become hellish without a moment’s notice,” and its execution is masterful, tying the album’s themes, atmosphere and sound collage elements off nicely before ending–seemingly out of nowhere.
Overall, this might be my favorite album by Holy Wave. It is a unified concept album capturing a very specific moment in time, not just of the world, but of the band’s current personal life. Further, it does so while managing to take their sound to new places and create a truly immersive sonic atmosphere.
i’m DADA released July 10th, 2026, on Suicide Squeeze Records.
Johnny Damron is an Ohio-based music writer and founder of Sauna Sounds, an independent outlet focused on music history, culture, and analysis. His work explores psychedelia, classic rock, and the cultural stories that surround music.
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