- Out of the haze of the fun-and-fever dream that was Ex Hex’s 2014 album Rips, comes the tropical whirlwind of It’s Real, a wholesome ten-track LP released through Merge Records. Ex Hex, namely Mary Timony (vox, guitar), Betsy Wright (vox, bass) and Laura Harris (drums), came well-loved into the North American garage rock domain circa 2013. Building on the success of Rips, comes a cleaner, crisper and all the more cool LP that is It’s Real. It can be hard to believe with the undoubtedly Pacific-coast feel of Ex Hex that these ladies come from the landlocked of the two Washington’s.
Where Rips maintained a still gritty, garage flavour, It’s Real defines itself by an almost '90’s radio-mix throwback of hip riffs, always-impressive guitar hooks, overlain by well articulated and harmonious vocal tracks. This new LP from Ex Hex is less of a departure from their previous and more of an evolution into a sound that live audiences have grown to adore from these three dynamite ladies.
Different from its predecessor, It’s Real plays less into the sound of fast-paced rock ballads, and further into head-nodding garage rhythms, further enforced by a rich, underlying sea of rolling power-chords. Tracks such as Rainbow Shiner and Radiate do well to highlight Timony’s incredible ability to produce bold and well-oiled guitar riffs, highlighting the intensive, high-quality production by Jonah Takagi.
Perhaps the only criticism of this LP is the lack of diversity in song structure and tone: rarely do tracks migrate from the garage-rock standard BPM range and when they do, you may find yourself wanting a little bit more of that faster-paced rock’n’roll topping that Ex Hex liberally proffer in their live sessions.
The standout track is in -no-doubt- Cosmic Cave, a charming, technically impressive, surf-tinged bop of layered guitar and tight, harmonious vocals. It harks to Splendora’s 2000 single Turn Down the Sun; so much so, it’s no stretch of the imagination to imagine Cosmic Cave featuring in the opening credits of an early 2000’s teen drama. Recurring chorus lyrics “Come on and dance with me / Come out of your cave / Let’s ride on the wave” can only be described as grin-inducingly cute, and leave you with a MTV nostalgia tinted glow.
If you missed Ex Hex on the first wave, be sure to hang ten on the second.
- Nikola V.