Customer Reviews

Hex

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This isn't so much a review as a bunch of gushing words trying to describe how this CD makes me feel. I've been a huge Steve Kilbey/Church fan for over 20 years and just stumbled across this CD. Although Kilbey's dreamy voice is not present, the songs are great and Donnette Thayer's pure, crystaline vocals seep through the heart and soul and take one to a different world. Three of the best songs, In the Net, Silvermine, and Elizabeth Green aren't available for a sample listen so don't judge this CD by only listening to the tracks available.

This CD reminds me some of the Cocteau Twins, and my favorite Church music: Priest=Aura. Thayer's voice is divine.

I got this in 1989 at a Washington, D.C. bookstore when it first came out and found it an incredibly original piece, little suspecting the impact it would have years later. This one album and its follow-up "Vast Haloes," can be considered the earliest definite form of the genre now called trip hop. All the features are here: surreal lyrics, ethereal voicing, unusual arrangements, danceable ethnic rhythms, unexpected turns of musical phrasing. A side project by Steve Kilbey of The Church, he had his then love interest Donnette Thayer do the vocals to songs he composed that he felt were outside his band's range. He would later employ some of these experiments on The Church album "Priest = Aura" in 1992. If you want to see the kernels where My Scarlet Life, Portishead, and even Dead Can Dance started, check this out.

The Church's Steve Kilbey teams up with silken-voiced Donette Thayer for the first of two wonderful albums. This is the starker of the two, with spacious, atmospheric arrangements that blend traditional acoustic & electric guitars with cavernous electronic textures. Kilbey's songwriting is strong throughout, with instant classics like "Ethereal Message", "Diviner", and "An Arrangement" standing out as great 'pop' songs, and "Out of the Pink Sky" and "Mercury Towers" taking more darkly passionate directions. Donette's voice is just spellbinding, and combined with Kilbey's lush layers of instruments, makes for a wonderful listening experience. An overlooked gem.

Like the review below, I enjoy the first Hex album very much. Of the two CDs, this one is the more essential. It is focused, has better songs, and is the better representation of the fruit of the labors of Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Donnette Thayer (Game Theory). Songs such as 'Diviner', 'Ethereal Message', and 'An Arrangement' are excellent cuts that are among the best of any Church member's side projects. Also, despite the 'goth'-style cover, this isn't a goth album in any way, so don't order it expecting dark and gloomy. It may not be sunny pop, but this is a work that reveals new intricacies every time you listen to it!