Holly Waxwing's new single "Vibe" is a magical, mystical trek into a pixie forest

Could you please introduce yourself for us?

Hi, I'm Holly. Holly Waxwing is an attempt to reconcile & stratify a quiet blush, long legs, sauna wood and loose lockets.

What music has influenced you?

Lucky Dragons, Virginia Astley, Susumu Yokota, Jun Chiki Chikuma, Young Thug, Karen Dalton and countless others.

Did you have posters on your walls growing up?

Mostly of really specific and disparate things that I had no stake or interest in for some reason... a blacklight poster, a Jaws poster (had never seen it) and some chili pepper lights around my bed's banister.

What non-music things have influenced you?

Animal postures, stale summer air and olympiads.

If you could rewrite the soundtrack for any classic film, what would it be and what would it sound like?

Probably Fellini's Juliet Of The Spirits. I wouldn't want to change the feel of the soundtrack, Nino Rota nailed it. I might try to repurpose all of the original melodies with hi-resolution, multi-sampled MIDI instruments and add some digital sheen.

What's "Vibe" about? How did you write/record it?

"Vibe" is the opposite of cynicism, it comes with open arms. It's what I strive to bring to the table, a sort of ethos for the current state of the project. I'm moving further and further away from sampling, and this was my first song to make almost exclusively with MIDI ~ a kind of self-test of my virtuosity in synthesis and basic songwriting.

What software and hardware do you use?

I use Ableton almost exclusively to make my songs. As far as hardware goes... I have a kalimba, a field recorder and a synthesizer built by Birch Cooper.

How did you write and record Peach Winks?

Peach Winks, like "Vibe", started out as an exercise or practice in MIDI synthesis, sequencing beats, and structuring melodies. However, it evolved a lot from there. I like the idea of clubby music that feels empathetic... cleansing and purificatory club music. A.G. Cook's "Beautiful" and Dubbel Dutch's "Inevitable" achieve this more successfully than any other songs I can think of. I want this EP to be a kind of hyperactive catharsis - a pop cleanse.

What's inspired it?

The artwork of Oliver Haidutschek, ornithology and my newfound love of anime.

You don't seem to use many lyrics (or at least many decipherable ones); what's the allure of instrumental music? Is it a challenge to convey meaning without just saying things overtly?

In a lot of ways I think it's easier to convey certain meanings without saying things overtly. Instrumental music probably appeals to me for the same reason non-analytic or continental philosophy appeals to me. Explicit meanings can be communicated explicitly, but nuanced and intuitive meanings require intuitive modes of understanding. I like that instrumental music is good at communicating feels or distilled aesthetics without any kind of ideological content.

Your music doesn't really seem to conform to any genre - perhaps you could draw similarities to whatever people describe PC Music as - was this conscious?

I'm definitely not consciously trying to riff off of anything the PC Music crew is doing, though I think they're making really dynamic and fun work and I'd always take the comparison as a compliment :^)

If you had the power to change one thing about the world, what would it be and why?

I'd make it a more wide-eyed and less jaded planet.

What's a Holly Waxwing show like? Why should people go see you?

I try to come up with unique visuals curated for each show... VR tours of real estate, busted flip phone videos of neo-tropical birds, etc. I like to do little micro remixes unique for each show whenever possible, and I strive to have lots of new material for every show.

What are you working on next?

Two full LP releases on a top secret label, and learning 3D modeling software.

Do you have any big summer plans?

Going to Zion National Park with my dad, performing at some (secret) summer festivals, and drinking Chartreuse Smashes poolside.

Listen to "Vibe" in all its glory below. Waxwing's Peach Winks EP is out on CASCINE on 16 June. Get it on iTunes here, and pre-order the cassette (via Waxwing's own Noumenal Loom label) here.