Hex Key

Mamalarkys acclaimed second album, 2022s Pocket Fantasy, illuminated their playful, kitchen-sink palette (including actual household objects) as a key component of their warped psychedelic pop. Around the time of its release, core members Livvy Bennett (Cherry Glazerr) and Michael Hunter (White Denim) moved from the U.S. South to Los Angeles, where they set up a home studio and started producing other acts. Their next Mamalarky LP was entirely performed, produced, recorded, and mixed there by members of the band (which also include bassist Noor Khan and drummer Dylan Hill). Rooted in experimentation and created with a common goal to never repeat themselves, the resulting Hex Key marks their Epitaph label debut. To say that its their most diverse outing yet would be an understatement, as it navigates shimmery noise pop, woozy alt-R&B, galloping indie rock, druggy art rock, and 70s soft rock inclinations, to name some of the most conspicuous. The groups idiosyncratic take on the latter style, "Feels So Wrong," is not only dreamy and rooted in smooth jazz-pop instrumentation (vintage keyboards and funky bass), it has that opaque, under-shallows sound of station-wagon AM radio. Elsewhere, "Anhedonia"s defining guitar motif sounds an awful lot like the opening guitar riff of "Ziggy Stardust" without being a note-for-note quote and while contextualizing it in softer surroundings. With its spongy wah-wah-type effects, "Wont Give Up" and later track "Nothing Lasts Forever" are two of a handful of songs on the 13-track set that are tinged with slinky R&B without inhabiting the genre. Also on board are the ultra-hooky, anthemic indie rock of the nevertheless quirky "Blow Up" ("Im fine/No Im not!"); the pining cowbell alt-pop of opener "Broken Bones"; and the dramatic, vocal-led "The Quiet," whose twinkling keys, creaking noises, and rumbling subterrane are visited by a late-arriving humanoid scream. Throughout all these contrasts, however, the mercurial Hex Key is compellingly weird and rhythmically and melodically catchy, with each of its fluorescent, silver-, or neon-colored tracks holding earworm potential. ~ Marcy Donelson