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May 16, 2024 By Caleb Campbell

Bay Area-based shoegaze outfit Pure Hex first debuted with in 2019 with their self-titled EP, followed by their 2022 full-length record, Still Dark. In the years since, the band have been crafting their follow-up, Spilling/Five of Tears, which they recorded last year with long-time friend and collaborator Corey Coffman. Tomorrow, the band are set to share the first half of the album as a six-song EP, Spilling, and today they’re offering an early listen to the EP, premiering with Under the Radar.

Spilling sees the band expanding their approach beyond their shoegaze roots, leaning into brighter and more immediate strains of alt rock. Guitarists Hussain Khan and Zach Dighans temper their washed-out guitar tones with rushes of soaring melody on “Fray” and “She Comes Up,” while moments like “Not Animal” come off as gnarled and grungy. Meanwhile, drummer Jon Anunnziato and bassist Luke Clingerman crash through the opener, “Infinity Spin,” bringing a crazed momentum to the EP’s blistering heavy moments while retaining the dreamy lull of its gauzy detours. All along, frontwoman Marta Alvarez sounds both bewitching and haunting, with her vocals offering a glassy counterpoint to the distortion-laden instrumentation.

The band says of the EP, “Spilling is the first half of a double LP we recorded last summer with Corey Coffman in Loveland, Colorado. It’s a joy and a privilege to make music with this group; we write everything together and recording with Corey means a two week excursion to Colorado, fully immersing ourselves in the production and writing process.

The full record, Spilling/Five of Tears alludes to the realities of growth and loss, through the lens of the tarot card ‘Five of Cups.’ This card symbolizes the emotional low point in a cycle of growth, the hole you fall into when you’re looking elsewhere, the rug being pulled out from under your feet, the collapse of thin ice beneath you. It holds the key to discovering something vital and unexpected—the connection within yourself that will outlast everyone and everything you know. Basically, we got esoteric with it, but the message isn’t that complicated: all is not lost, you have yourself.

We’re excited to share the first half of this record with you. It’s the morning of the album, the lighter half, the beginning of the cycle.”

Check out the EP below, out on May 17th.