What can you expect from an album called Hex Key? A bunch of songs about assembling flat-pack furniture and adjusting bike handlebars? Nothing Mamalarky do is predictable, so you can’t rule that out. The U.S. indie psych-rock four-piece – Livvy Bennett (vocals, guitar), Noor Khan (bass), Dylan Hill (drums), Michael Hunter (keyboard) – has a knack for leaving you puzzled. Their 2018 debut EP which they recorded as a trio – Khan joined later that year – is called Fundamental Thrive Hive. They played their first show as a quartet in a wristwatch factory. There is an instrumental on their debut album, with the title “Singalong”. Quirky?
Possibly, but the band never veers into gratuitous quirkiness. After all, they are consummate professionals who have played and/or toured with the likes of Cherry Glazerr, White Denim, and Faye Webster. It’s just that, like these artists, they resist being pigeonholed and relish flouting convention. Nothing is off limits as they relentlessly pursue the goal of creating songs that are so many perfect little worlds, each one with its own distinctive character. They take sounds, moods, and lyrics that, at first glance, do not seem compatible, then make that pastiche work.
Their own lyrics seldom provide an apt summary of an artist’s music, but Mamalarky are an exception. On “Dance Together”, a track on the band’s second LP, 2022’s Pocket Fantasy, Bennett sings “It’s so appealing / Glittering fractals moving across the roof / I belong in a state of constant motion.” Like fractals, Mamalarky’s songs are complex and reveal infinitely detailed patterns when you zoom in. And they’re never static – they swirl, cascade, ripple, and grow.
Given their approach to songwriting – or rather, songcrafting – the group do not strive for sonic consistency on their albums. On the contrary, they want the maximum amount of diversity. “The worst thing you can say about a Mamalarky song is ‘This sounds like another song of yours’”, Khan once said. Accordingly, the variety Hex Key offers throughout its 13 songs is bewildering. From: https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/albums/mamalarky-hex-key-reach-peak-torque
