*NEW ALBUM* Mamalarky: "Hex Key"

L I S T E N

Mamalarky pulls out all the bells, whistles, stops and jumpstarts for their third album Hex Key. Incredibly named and represented in it's artwork as this album explores the confrontation and disconnect between the industry and the witchcraft it's artists produce from the firsthand perspective. Musically, the group has evolved into a finely tuned bicycle with sound machinery and polished parts that take you down winding roads, sharp turns, hard brakes, dizzying donuts, and yes the thrills of a few wheelies here and there. All and all they are an adventure with the roadmap flying out the window on the first turn. With Livvy Bennett (vocals, guitar), Noor Khan (bass), Dylan Hill (drums), Michael Hunter (keyboard), all parts are firing throughout the 13-tracks of the new album. Their music has always left me mystified and stirred in a way I can't fully articulate or maybe don't want to to maintain the myth. Every track lays out an evolving pattern that is unlike the previous one and still threads a connective story of expressing firsthand struggle and defining triumph on your own terms.

The album kicks off with a repeating familiar melody that rests for a driving beat and rock guitar with expressions of a toughness and head-down mentality required for fallen angels.

What follows is the feelings of the artist rising through the industry and tirelessly defining their path, afraid of compromise, while constantly questioning the path's existential purpose and now that we are here, why are we here? Fantastic use of inverse imagery in their lyrics to feel the internal conflict of the artist and also the perspective of where they believe they are positioned:

I keep holding on Holding out for what?

What comes down must

Always go back up, always go back up, always go back

--

Always know what for

All the work is towards

Rock that holds the sword

Don’t need no awards

The weight of these battles pour over into the tracks that explore the ups and downs of the people, places, and things we romanticize in life while you feel drained and reduced from your purpose. Belted out in "Anhedonia" with music that feels like a classic indie arrangement. Followed by what sounds like the most complex and hypnotic track on the whole sheet "#1 Best Of All Time"

Bennett's vocals switching on and off key in a comatose state of wandering through her validation of herself and proudly going the speed that is hers while the instruments behind her whip up a frenzy of frantic rhythms that stop and go without warning or signal.

I’ve been chopped down so many times

They can’t defeat me I’ll be fine

--

Marathon runner I place last

However I felt just as fast

The journey never stays in one spot and each track introduces new sounds like chimes, bells, washboards and more to let you know the environment has changed. Hex Key moves through a vengeful warning towards a "MF" to a reflection of the album itself after working so many years on with "Blush" to liberating groovy tracks "Nothing Lasts Forever" and "Feels So Wrong" that will undoubtedly circulate through many summer 2025 playlists. The album rests itself on it's final easy listening track "Here's Everything."

The album showcases and solidifies everything the band is capable of and wishes to offer - not in a mold that is for marketing or mass appeal but their own. There's no path laid ahead? Let them gather their tools and excavate their own where they decide it's direction. Hex Key is an incredible work of art that I can only scratch the surface of today, but I urge you to listen to this beautiful work from top to bottom and let it unveil its own patterns unto you. This adventure has concluded but the journey continues on.

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