A few years on from the early-pandemic brilliance of 2020’s Bobby Joe Hope, East Coast songwriter Jon McKiel has announced a new album. Hex is out May 3 on You’ve Changed Records, and the title track is streaming now.
While Hex doesn’t feature the same unique origin story as Bobby Joe Hope (which was made using samples from a discovered reel-to-reel tape), it was made with the same collaborator, as McKiel once again teamed with JOYFULTALK’s Jay Crocker.
Title cut “Hex,” with its soulful loop and haunting melodies, certainly sounds like a continuation of Bobby Joe Hope. McKiel said in a statement, "'Hex' is a song that came about from sampling my voice and guitar. Lyrically, it wonders what darknesses might be at at play, personally or collectively. Sometimes, observing systems and people on the brink of collapse, it feels as though there is a hex on all of us — a self-imposed one given that the game was so long ago fixed. Social media puts a magnifying glass over all this, while the great reflection keeps our attention."
Elsewhere, Hex includes a cover of Terry Jacks’s “Concrete Sea.” The album is available to pre-order here.
Hex:
1. Hex
2. String
3. Still Life
4. The Fix
5. Under Burden
6. Memory Screen pt. 1
7. Everlee
8. Lady's Mantle
9. Concrete Sea
10. Memory Screen pt. 2
