HEXDEBT
RULE OF FOUR (POISON CITY RECORDS)
Label:
POISON CITY RECORDS
Gatefold LP (black vinyl) "_menace and power" - Beat Magazine "_stuffed with fierce anger, attitude and integrity" - White Light / White Heat Featuring the current electrifying singles 'Covenant' and 'Loops', Rule of Four is the culmination of two years of writing from the Naarm/ Melbourne-based post-punk band, HEXDEBT.
Coming in at just over two minutes, HEXDEBT's latest single 'Loops' showcases their core essence - Agnes Whalan's urgent vocals timing on off-beats of the steady rhythmic section, with Aife Larkin's delicate, melodic guitar work of layering over all.
With energy growing in a steady uprise, culminating in a call and response ("Lapse! What you did!"), 'Loops' explores the work we do to break specific habits, and the relapses that often come with it.
Across the 10 tracks on Rule of Four, HEXDEBT - Agnes Whalan (vocals/guitar), Aife Larkin (guitar/vocals), Isobel D'Cruz Barnes (bass/vocals), Lucy Fry (drums/vocals) - traverse the trials of life and the hurtful, systemic issues and ideas that the band are faced with every day, side by side with their communities.
The evolution and hopeful deconstruction of archaic systems of power ('Era', 'Visions'), the monetisation of personal pleasure and social capital ('Stakes'), autonomy over the self, the painful stifling of oppressed voices ('Covenant', 'Ekhos') and the passing of time ('Fossilise', 'Exodus').
Guided by their rhythmic, forceful, and delicate musicianship, HEXDEBT manage to balance the beautiful with the confronting with the wisdom and poise of a band well beyond their years.
They stand unified on their brilliant debut album, storming the battlefield to face each painful point.
HEXDEBT have been carving their place through their puncturing live show and 2017 single 'Bitch Rising', named Single of the Week in Beat Magazine and heralded as "a blindsiding run of blistering, Sabbath-like fury." As well as featuring at a string of national festivals including MONA FOMA, Gizzfest (curated by King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard), I OH YOU's Melbourne Music Week party and upcoming slots at Boogie and Brunswick Music Festival, Hexdebt curate their annual HEXFEST event, which sold out both levels of The Gasometer in November.
"If that sounds like heavy lifting for a young band's very first album, HEXDEBT's acid-laced material so far proves that they're very much up for the challenge." - Weirdo Wasteland FOR FANS OF: Savages, Sonic Youth, Cable Ties, Deaf Wish ++