It’s Real
Merge
2019
Rating: 9 boxy yellow birds out of 10
Did you fall in love with the last Ex Hex record, “Rips,” like I did? If your answer is “yes” - congratulations, allow me to introduce you to their sophomore follow-up “It’s Real,” one of the very best albums of 2019; that descriptor will be holding strong no matter how many other quality releases come out this year. If your answer is “no” – I quite literally want nothing to do with you, please go away, you make me sad. “It’s Real” feels so much like a continuation of “Rips” that I’d completely believe both were recorded during the same session, and I mean that as the highest compliment – when you have a sound so dialed in and perfect right from the start, why fuck with a good thing? My review of “Rips” was downright middling compared to how much I would go on to listen to (and love) that debut; because of that I came into this one with guns blazing and expectations astronomical, and gladly, I’ve not been left wanting. Betsy Wright handles lead vocals on a few tracks, including my favorite of the record “Rainbow Shiner,” a song that would have fit in great with her excellent side project Bat Fangs (think a slightly glammier Ex Hex if you’ve never heard them); Mary Timony is in the lead for most of the album though, and her best track “Diamond Drive” is nearly as good. In fact, it should come as no surprise given my effusive praise and the high rating above that literally every song on “It’s Real” is great, and I truly can’t wait to listen to this over and over and over.
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