Waves

Allwax: “Waves”

Heads up. Because our amazing multi-media team has been collecting so many great pop-up performances at ACL Fest, we’re gonna be sharing some of those with you over the next couple weeks. But before we dive in, we’d be remiss if we didn’t shine the spotlight on a fresh local release, no ACL tie-in necessary.

And that comes courtesy of Austin two-piece Allwax. Like plenty of other projects from the past half decade, Allwax was born out of the pandemic and the plethora of creative free time that initially came with it. Once they solidified their sleek shoegaze-slathered dream pop style, Allwax started off strong on streaming with five standalone singles in their mere first official year. And although the duo’s discography is still exclusively singles (which are now dropping about twice annually) Allwax’s sonic brand has remained crazy consistent without getting stale at all.

Case in point, ahead of an appearance later this month at The Mohawk on the 22nd opening for French Film, Allwax wheeled out their latest installation “Waves” last Friday. Less of an all day beach party banger and better suited for a coastal convertible cruise, “Waves” has the essential echoes of Summer we’ll need til Texas finally reaches Fall temperatures: a subdued-but-driving rhythm section, effects-drenched guitar, a refreshing sans-drums outro, and Besty Leidal’s reverb-soaked siren singing – all layered together so naturally you’d guess they were mixed together by the tides themselves.

Gary Devlin: “Waves”

We’ll never deny the merits of lyrical therapy. Then again, the staying power and worldwide accessibility of meditative genres like classical and jazz has little to do with curated words. And more often than not with that universality, comes positivity.

Cut to El Paso-born, Arlington-based songwriter-guitarist Gary Devlin. Sure, Gary’s got the makings of a great singer, as heard on his 2016 debut Pick Your Heart’s Desire, but he also appreciates the intrinsic power of letting his six-string do the talking for him. That’s no doubt thanks to Devlin’s upbringing in a golden age of rock composition, when Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Zeppelin, and the too-many-to-list rest were the standard for quality songwriting. The way he sees it? Why put a perimeter around genres when you can make your mission statement “feel good pop rock”?

Well, to get the ball rolling on his as-of-yet-untitled 2024 LP, last Friday Devlin imparted some of those lessons onto a sans-lyric love song. And because it’s inspired by that-most complicated emotions, this sprawling five-minute instrumental doesn’t really stick to one lane. Instead “Waves” weaves smooth acoustic guitar jazz with ’70s-inspired prog rock that doesn’t pause until a final cathartic repose.

Texas Standard: November 22, 2019

The public part of the House impeachment inquiry is over. Did it have an impact? A former White House adviser says yes, in ways that may not be obvious, we’ll explore. Plus: 2020. It’s closer than you think, especially if you’re in the business of running an election. How much more secure are systems now, with less than a year to go before presidential balloting? Also, over objections of native americans, environmentalists and others, three new natural gas export facilities get the green light…What will it mean for texas and the economy? All of that and more today on the Texas Standard: