BARK PSYCHOSIS

Hex

Genre: INDIE / ALTERNATIVE

2LP (Black Vinyl)

Boomkat Product Review:

Quite literally the definitive and arguably one of the most influential post-rock albums ever made, newly remastered and reissued 30 years since it came out back in 1994. If you’re into Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock / Spirit of Eden, Chicago’s nebulous guitar/jazz movements, or the interconnected wave of loosely likeminded bands (Hood, Pan American etc) - welcome to your new obsession.

Back in 1994, Hex sounded like a new kind of music - one built on foundations laid by Talk Talk (whose drummer Lee David Harris has a credit on ‘Hex’ and would later join the band), expanded through Graham Sutton’s growing interest in samplers and unusual production techniques, fed into the dub currents coursing through the electronic music scene of the era.

In hindsight, it’s easy to join the dots between the UK’s emerging electronic nexus and Chicago’s sprawling web of artists and players hovering around the Thrill Jockey label, Tortoise, and all its myriad offshoots - but back then it really did feel like a fracture in the timeline. The Kevin Martin compiled ‘Macro Dub Infection’ that came out the following year provides a good snapshot of this convergence, featuring everyone from Coil to Tortoise and 4 Hero on its ambitious tracklist.

Despite considerable critical praise, ‘Hex’ got a bit lost in the mix when it was released, but by the time this remastered reissue was unveiled in 2017, it had assumed its rightful place and more widely acknowledged as one of the most complex, and evocative albums of its time. More than anything, ‘Hex’ is an album that’s aged beautifully - a perfect union of stoned ambition and a feel for songwriting wrapped around innovative recording techniques - all guided by a refusal to settle on, or for, anything. In many ways, it layed the ground for much of what was to come in experimental music over the years and decades that followed, in the UK and beyond.

Go check ‘Absent Friend’, melt a little, and take it from there.

2LP (Black Vinyl) (7)

In Stock (Ready To Ship)

Back in stock, 2024 pressing, 140g black vinyl edition with Spot UV sleeve. Remastered in 2017 from the original analog tapes at Metropolis Studios by Graham Sutton and Stuart Hawkes. Comes with printed inners and a postcard.

Play All 2LP (Black Vinyl) (7)