Wellington, New Zealand-based three-piece HEX (consisting of Kiki Van Newtown, GG Van Newtown, and Jason Erskine) was initially formed around putting together a joint rock opera, which led to further collaborations within the oft-politicized New Zealand DIY scene. Sitting in an ambiguous artistic headspace that shows glimpses of Joy Division, modern poetry, and early 90’s riot grrrl punk, HEX breathes deep on their upcoming album The Hill Temple, as though preparing to unleash something huge, fiery, and enigmatic.
Gathering together a personalized assortment of motifs – shitty roommates, gardening, witch burnings, feminism, and reproductive rights, to name a few – Kiki asserts that HEX seeks primarily to harness deliberate social rage, promoting the idea of using your anger to destroy the things you hate and to create the things you love. It’s about consciousness over ignorance, agency over listlessness, and productivity over nihilism - all of it drenched in riffs, dense bass lines, and chanting vocal figures.
The Hill Temple is set to be released on Valentine’s Day 2018, followed by a U.S. tour in March.