Album Review: Ex Hex – It’s Real

Washington D.C’s Ex Hex make a big noise for a three-piece. Inevitably it’s Mary Timony‘s guitar leading the way and there are moments when it seems the songs are set up to showcase her unique fretboard talents. But bands have been doing that for decades and the musicality across these songs allows for a bit of indulgence. When you have a weapon like that in your arsenal, you have to use it. Add to this gorgeous vocals and the tightest of rhythm sections and you have a recipe for a can’t-miss rock outfit.

At the first listen, It’s Real evokes a kind of late 70s Pat Benatar/Heart rock nostalgia vibe, which is no bad thing in itself. It derives from the front-and-centre rock guitar and vocal, both laced (at times) with industrial levels of reverb not heard since those times. Once you get past that and actually listen, what you have is an album of almost timeless, straight-ahead rock music that is designed for blasting out of open windows. And it is designed to be that way. These are ace songs hooky, infectious and real growers in a way that that first listen perhaps only hints at. In this, Ex Hex are probably more closely aligned to The Cars or Cheap Trick in the pantheon of American rock music.

If I have a criticism, it’s that this record is perhaps a little too clean, production-wise, and that detracts a little from it’s overall immediacy. Maybe Ex Hex are too good. Maybe they lean too heavily on that omnipresent guitar for a signature sound, when what you are really wanting is some unbridled, scuzzy energy. It is there if you look for it though (Good Times and Diamond Drive). Highlights are No Reflection and Radiate, but it’s all very, very good indeed. The more I listen, the more I like it.

It’s Real is released today by Merge Records and it can be purchased on digital, CD and vinyl formats here