Hex "Vast Halos" (1990)

Vast Halos

release date: Sep. 28, 1990

format: digital

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]

producer: Steve Kilbey

label: self-release - nationality: USA / Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Monarch" - 3. "March" - 4. "Centaur" - 5. "Antelope" - 6. "Hollywood in Winter"

2nd and final full-length studio album by the duo Hex consisting of Donette Thayer and Steve Kilbey, also a privately formed couple. The title has only been released on CD and cassette via Rykodisc in the US and as a digital self-release in Australia. As a curiosity, the album came out at the same time when Kilbey and his (other) girlfriend, Karin Jansson, released their debut album Charms & Blues (also Sep. '90) under the name of Curious (Yellow). Vast Halos is the direct continuation of the '89 debut with more delay and bolder use of echo effects to create a stronger musical spaciousness. All tracks here are credited Thayer / Kilbey and again it's Thayer's vocals alone performing on the songs, which have been further arranged with keyboards, synthetic strings, and the vocals on this function more as musical instrumentation a bit á la Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins. Jangle-pop elements have crept in (Kilbey), but otherwise the album (again) most of all points to earlier dream pop releases of the mid-eighties.

The album garnered even better reviews than the debut, but without promotion it only sold a few copies and Hex only released one single from the album, the track "March".

During this period, Kilbey found himself at a low point with The Church, who, after bad studio experiences, had released Gold Afternoon Fix (Feb. '90) to lukewarm reviews, but Kilbey subsequently released his fourth solo album, Remindlessness (Jul. '90) and in the Summer of '90, he embarked on a new duo-project, now with Grant McLennan from the recently defunct Go-Betweens, and together the two released the debut album Jack Frost by the end of the year.

Vast Halos is quite a nicely arranged album if you are into dream pop in the darker and more moody end of the scale, where Hex leans on the same qualities as Mazzy Star with their debut She Hangs Brightly from May this year, and without being excellent, it is clearly the duo's best and most interesting outing.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Hex "Hex" (1989)

Hex [debut]

release date: Jun. 27, 1989

format: vinyl (FIEND 156) / digital

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,26]

producer: Steve Kilbey

label: Demon / First Warning - nationality: USA / Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Diviner" - 3. "Ethereal Message" - 4. "Mercury Towers" - 6. "Fire Island" - 7. "In the Net" - 8. "Silvermine"

Studio debut album by music duo-project Hex, founded by Australian vocalist, bassist, and composer Steve Kilbey (of The Church) with American guitarist Donette Thayer (of the band Game Theory) at a time when they were also a couple. The album was initially only released in the US on the smaller BMG-owned label, First Warning Records and in 1990 also in the UK by Demon Records. In parallel, Kilbey also formed the music project Curious (Yellow) with (other) girlfriend Karin Jansson and together they released the 12'' single, "I Am Curios" (Mar. '88).

In addition to dream pop, the music is also referred to as ethereal wave - a subcategory of dream pop, where the focus is on the more slowly progressive with the use of delay effect. Musically, it is further away from Kilbey's normal compositions, where the jangle-pop element is completely absent and instead replaced by keyboards and then all tracks are recorded with Thayer's vocals.

The album garnered good reviews, but it doesn't really catch on and to me it sounds more like inspired by earlier 80s bands like Cocteau Twins, This Mortail Coil and other 4AD / Creation artists, mainly from the British Isles. Thayer's vocals may sound quite narrow and without the big register, but at the same time it has a charm and warm tone that fits well with the genre and style. All in all, it's nice and fine, but it's not exactly ground-breaking music that you need to know of.