Ex-Hyena enter the psyche on ‘Moon Reflections’
The introspective second album from the Boston duo is set for a June 24 release via Hush Club Ltd. and Brutal Resonance Records
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New single ‘Fractured’ out now backed with an exclusive BlakLight remix
BOSTON, MA [June 24, 2022] -- In our most lonely and isolated moments, the moon is always lurking just above. It’s a constant, a compass, and a companion. But it can also act as a psychological portal to transport us to another place, one less physical and more mental, as we drift out of our physical limitations and embrace a new state of being. The soundtrack to this shift comes from Ex-Hyena, who on June 24 unveil sophomore album Moon Reflections, a 10-track collection released digitally via Hush Club Ltd. and Brutal Resonance, with additional cassette and t-shirt collaboration with Brutal Resonance. The album propels the Boston duo of Reuben Bettsak and Bo Barringer into new thematic territories.
Where critically acclaimed 2021 debut album Artificial Pulse danced through the shadows of reality, from waking up in dystopian landscapes to riding highways with biker gangs, Moon Reflections bridges the physical into the psychological. Ex-Hyena have leapt from the world around us into a hypnotic void, where memory and introspection are integral to personal survival. Because once the world is no longer habitable and our surroundings turn unforgiving and cruel, the only place to turn is inward.
“Moon Reflections brings forth cinematic landscapes from the Ex-Hyena world,” says Bettsak. “This futuristic world is created to build imagination sparks, to grasp memories, and to delve into understanding our fragile minds. It's interesting. I think our last album was maybe built a bit more on stories, and characters from a dystopian future world, and of course aspects of that world touched upon the realities of our world. But in building imaginary worlds, one can tap into the subjects of the mind. Moon Reflections dives into the deep, murky waters of memories, it falls down a void of nightmares, it experiences extreme loneliness, and it also highlights a few characters via cinematic scenes from the Ex-Hyena future world. And it all meshes together because imagination is a great magnifying glass.”
After a trio of singles set a stark tone for the brash and brisk electronic minimalism of Moon Reflections, a fourth track titled “Fractured” dropped May 13, backed with an exclusive remix from California duo BlakLight. “Fractured” follows Moon Reflections mood-setters “Nightmare Pills” (October 2021), “Capture The Stills” (January), and “Sight Unseen” (March); it’s an uneasy, atmospheric track that aches and crawls along a dizzying understanding of what lurks deep inside our own head.
“The imagery tends to perfectly sync with the music,” says Barringer. “I honestly have no idea how I put the music together. I think I was really just experimenting with a few elements and as the pieces came together the whole created this feeling of unease, a feeling of tension. And the tension builds and builds till it finally gets to the chorus and never looks back.”
Bettsak agrees, adding: “Our minds are complex highways, and so are relationships. Sometimes we wish for the ability to explore someone else's thoughts in order to better understand them, but it's hard to navigate/understand our own minds. Communication, and remembering key memories, can help heal fractures. It's also a meditation on memories, memory loss, nightmares, and dreams.”
But “Fractured” only tells part of the larger story arc of Moon Reflections, which finds Ex-Hyena experimenting with more hip-hop-inspired beats and complex rhythms, bolstering the project deeper into sonic territories that are impossible to label. “I think the songs on Moon Reflections really work together, lyrically,” Bettsak says.
What emerges from the lyrics help anchor the album into something relatable on the surface, as tracks like “Sight Unseen,” “Tremors,” and “Capture the Stills” delve into introspective themes like the intricacies and complexities of our minds, our relationships and our yearnings, and our battles with creativity. Elsewhere, songs like album opener “At the Moondial,” plus tracks “Euphorbia,” “Nightmare Pills,” and “While Curtains Burn” capture moments from various characters in Ex-Hyena’s future world, from lovers escaping cults to drug experimentation that expands or controls reality to adventures far out into desert landscapes that may or may not be real. Future Noir themes also persist, on how crime shapes us and what we do to escape detection after running afoul of society’s law.
“The Ex-Hyena model has been perfect for turning ideas and song fragments into actual songs,” says Barringer. “One of us comes up with an idea, sends it to the other and almost overnight it becomes a fleshed-out thing worth pursuing.
And while there is no limit to where the mind takes us, there is equally no restriction to the type of sounds that Ex-Hyena are crafting for this sophomore effort, which blends elements of industrial, disco, and psych-rock into their already established aural cocktail of synth-pop, electro, and dark-pop. If it’s nocturnal, it likely falls somewhere in Ex-Hyena’s shadowy spectrum of sonics.
“Musically, we definitely are delving more and more into where we can take electronic music. There definitely is a bit more of a focus on songcraft on this one. It's probably because things really started to click even more as we developed our sound. I think we also started realizing that we can explore different musical styles and directions, and still make it sound like Ex-Hyena. It's a dark electronic music with a punk, post-punk attitude. I think Bo really likes to keep things unpredictable, and interesting in the way he programs beats. For us it makes things exciting not playing by the rules, or trying to fit into a specific style of music. We both know that the best path forward to keeping the Ex-Hyena pulse going is by continuing to explore, and push ourselves.”
With the moon as our guide, our memory as our map, and our minds as our playground.
Media Contact: Please direct all press inquiries to Reuben Bettsak at reubenbettsak@gmail.com or Michael Marotta at michael@publisist.co.
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‘Moon Reflections’ album artwork:
Art Design by Ian Adams
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Ex-Hyena 2022 artist bio:
Ex-Hyena is human psychology set to music.
The prolific collaboration between longtime Boston music conspirators Reuben Bettsak and Bo Barringer has quickly made a name for itself over the past two years, a time when a project initially set to create a tense, neurotic soundtrack for a far-off dystopian landscape suddenly felt all too real. The scenes that play out across Ex-Hyena’s stark brand of world-building, where the detachment from an uneasy society on edge is only matched by the residual effects of our fractured psyche, are chronicled by expressive lyricisms and a minimal, propulsive electronic music foundation.
Ex-Hyena taps into the doom and gloom of our current climate while also existing on its own sonic plane. After instantly declaring arrival at the height of the pandemic with the detached cool and mummified swagger of “Shades,” debut album Artificial Pulse arrived in the frigid spell of New England’s 2021 winter, capturing the sound of a mutant disco alien dance party where cold electronics and warm emotion sprawl across a nocturnal dystopia of underground electro. It earned praise from the likes of Brutal Resonance, White Light // White Heat, Blood Makes Noise, Darkness Calling, ReGen, and other mindful purveyors of the dark editorial arts, with Brutal Resonance hyping it in its Top 5 albums of 2021. As Ex-Hyena’s originals appeared on playlists around the world, remix exchanges and collaborations with Denial Waits, Blood Handsome, Pleasure Policy, R.M. Hendrix, BlakLight, and Control I’m Here crafted a network of like-minded creatives aching to break free from modern-day restrictions.
“It’s hard to beat that initial thrill of realizing that this was brand new territory for each of us,” says Barringer. “A new way of creating music. Every new song still feels like a new high point. The Ex-Hyena model has been perfect for turning ideas and song fragments into actual songs. One of us comes up with an idea, sends it to the other and almost overnight it becomes a fleshed-out thing worth pursuing. There’s still a lot of discovery going on here, and that’s exciting.”
Ex-Hyena’s distinct sound quickly garnered attention across the underground, leading to artist and label partnerships with Hush Club Ltd. and Brutal Resonance, which bolstered the duo’s string of eclectic singles to audiences around the world. In June 2022, Ex-Hyena release sophomore album Moon Reflections, a 10-track record that pushes the boundaries of electronic music and broadens the band’s lyrical scope to introspective territories both real and imagined. It’s another hallucinogenic turn for Ex-Hyena, a collaboration built upon musical instinct shared by its two contributors.
“It's interesting. I think our last album was maybe built a bit more on stories, and characters from a dystopian future world, and of course aspects of that world touched upon the realities of our world,” says Bettsak. “But in building imaginary worlds, one can tap into the subjects of the mind. Moon Reflections dives into the deep, murky waters of memories, it falls down a void of nightmares, it experiences extreme loneliness, and it also highlights a few characters via cinematic scenes from the Ex-Hyena future world. And it all meshes together because imagination is a great magnifying glass.”
The DNA of Ex-Hyena runs deep, down a jagged line of Boston bands (Future Carnivores, Emerald Comets, Guillermo Sexo) tracing back nearly 20 years. So while their chemistry was set on course long ago, adding new sonic chemicals to the mix -- electro, techno, darkwave, synth-pop, and post-rock -- developed a more kinetic element.
And now Ex-Hyena’s second full-length album arrives just 15 months after its debut, all while releasing an endless supply of music, videos, remixes, livestreams and other content fit for the attention economy that bleeds most bands dry. And that’s not to mention a blossoming and growingly confident live show, where Ex-Hyena is often tapped to share bills with touring artists that share a similar grayscale approach to crafting colorful music.
“Bo and I are both prolific musicians who really share a musical kinship,” says Bettsak. “The musical vision really came together fast. We figured out our roles in creating the music. I think the first two songs, ‘Shades’, and ‘Fortress Supreme’, really hit on a vibe we wanted to explore more. Ex-Hyena might be the most satisfying project I've been a part of. Bo and I have built a musical connection, and the music we are creating comes out so naturally… and it's so exciting, and unpredictable. Being a duo helps, and it also feels like this project has been gaining some really nice momentum.”
Adds Barringer: “Our previous collaborations had always been fruitful. It was just a matter of time before we started making music in some incarnation again. We dipped our toes into the water just before quarantine and we were digging where it was going. So it was kind of a no-brainer for us to dive head-in. It came from a pretty free, open exchange of ideas. I was just writing instrumentals with a beat, texture and mood that I was really vibin’ on and Reuben put them through his own internal filter and gave it depth and dimension. It was challenging, but at the same time, it was one of the easiest things I’ve ever been involved in.”
Difficult music made with relative ease.
There’s a certain psychology to that approach, and one for which Ex-Hyena likely provides its soundtrack.
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Human praise for Ex-Hyena:
“This twilight hallucination resonates as the shadowy side of Depeche Mode and the enigmatic darkwave murk of The Soft Moon. The iterating synth-riff at work here gets under your skin without asking. The atmosphere is impending, the tone is obscure, the color is black. All you need for a sonic nightmare.” _Turn Up The Volume
“Some interesting and evocative shades from Boston’s Ex-Hyena on their new single. Despite its slinky lope, ‘Capture The Stills’ never lets you get comfortable in the groove, peppering in smoothly sculpted but disquieting programming and percussive tics. We often talk about the lush atmospheres of darkwave, but here you can see how familiar and commonly welcoming darkwave dancefloor sounds can be given an uncanny and alienating edge. _I Die:You Die
"Ex-Hyena’s 'Artificial Pulse' gave me a bit of a shock when I listened to it... An electronic album inspired by both science-fiction and cyberpunk lore alike. But when I clicked that play button I didn’t get huge bass drops and four-on-the-floor dance rhythms. I was rather greeted with minimal electro, darkpop, and sometimes disco-inspired beats... [it's] an album that could easily play in a futuristic, smokey bar." _Brutal Resonance’s Top 10 albums of 2021 (Number 5)
“Bursting with an obsessive humming throbbing bassline, crispy mechanical electro rhythms, and off-tempo tight percussive patterns rambling bouncily through the neon-lit dark night, stabbed by vexed flashing glaring swathes of analog synths, while distressed stealthy dual vocals blend shady secret whispers, with high quivering mania, to unleash intense dramatic characters from the seedy underworld of ‘Motorfreaks’.” _White Light/White Heat
“If, like us, you’re into dystopian vibes, ‘Blade Runner’-esque color palettes, and hypnotic dance tracks, look no further than ‘Shades,’ the debut single by Ex-Hyena.” _Darkness Calling
“‘Motorfreaks’ presents the band’s dark disco style, with themes revolving around the perilous and lawless dystopian world of a future that is perhaps nearer than expected” _ReGen Magazine
It sounds as if this Boston tandem warns us for Big Brother’s ambition to brainwash humankind with mind-altering chemicals with this darksome, yet instantly striking electro jam. Haunting, feverish, and gloomy are the keywords here. Best played at night while being dazed and confused by the surreal times we experienced the past 18 months. _Turn Up The Volume
“'Instant Fires' delves deep into the chaos that has become modern life. Dark, poetic, hegemonic-narcipop has arrived on the scene to score the apocalyptic vibes of today. Hypnotic, mysterious techno thriller music for people who laugh at the absurdity of our new, luddite life this agorophorock-with-synths-throwback-to-industrial-pop timelines that learned what it needed from the past, packed it up, and was violently expelled back and out of the mouth of the universe… Cool. Seductive. Dangerous.” _Blood Makes Noise
“It's a hypnotic and minimal album without a dry moment in between songs. Rather than focusing on a million different layers to generate a unique sound, Ex-Hyena utilizes a select set of electronic notes without coming out as overbearing. The beats are meticulous and well-crafted, which forced me to really focus on what was going on; it's this type of analyzing that I find most amusing in a song. Something different, something breathing, and something so out there that it encapsulates my attention.” _Brutal Resonance
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The unmistakable sound of Ex-Hyena has been seen and heard on:
1st 3 Magazine, A Moment of Darkness, BICT Radio, Backpacks And Magazines (WMBR), Barcelona Alternative Nights, Bay State Rock, Black Room Radio, Blood Makes Noise, Boston Emissions, Brian Carpenter’s Free Association (WZBC), BumbleBee Radio, Christian’s Cosmic Corner (Mark Skin Radio), Darkness Calling, Electro Wave, ElektroSpank, Everything You Know Is Wrong on Salem State Radio, Flyfew Radio, Fused Wireless, Fused Wireless, Future Robot Lab, Heresey, If It’s Too Loud, Infectious Unease, Jay Breitling’s Parcheesi Redux, Johnny Normal’s Synthetic Sunday Show, Loud Cities, Mechanical Breakdown (KEXP), Odilon’s Grip’s Edgy Electronic Beats, Oh Hello Boston, On The Town with Mikey D (WMFO), Procession, Radio Black Room (Italy), Radio Coolio (Canada), Radio Oscura (Downtown Radio), Rodon FM, Screaming for Years, Songs from the Floorboard, Sound Obscura, Stuck In Thee Garage, Subculture Shock, Synth-Pop Fantatic, Synthentral, The Music Bugle, This Is Not A Show, Tinnitist, Transmissions NJ, Virtual Detention (WZBC), Vox Sinistra, Wave Dimension, Wave Press, White Light//White Heat, Wintermute, and other fine independent outlets that are not run by rampant corporate fuckery.
Press Contact: michael@publisist.co or reubenbettsak@gmail.com
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