Ears Wide Open: Holychild

Kevin Bronson on September 26th, 2013

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It’s becoming a familiar storyline. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl meet synth. Indie-pop duo is formed. Bouncy songs ensue. Because public’s appetite for bouncy indie-pop songs is insatiable, blogs go crazy. Duo hailed as creators of “the song of the summer.” Long career of Instagrams of donuts with rainbow-colored sprinkles, pink hats and three-scoop ice cream cones predicted. Well, only part of that may apply to Holychild, the alliance of LizÂ Nistico and Louie Diller. The tunes on their “Mind Speak” EP are sunny, to be sure, but, Nistico recently told Nylon, there’s meat on their bones. The EP is “a collection of songs portraying the role of the contemporary woman in our culture,” she said. “”˜Happy With Me’ is spawned from the incessant images that are pushed at women daily, and my personal difficulty interacting as a human and not being pressured to look, act, or speak a certain way.” The single “Best Friends” plays outside the lines, with its nifty xylophone parts, and overall we imagine Holychild’s music as what might happen if Tegan and Sara hung out with a bunch of Swedish electro-pop producers. One strawberry-and-banana smoothie, please.

||| Stream: “Happy With Me”