On September 13 New York City’s Hello Mary will release their new album Emita Ox via Frenchkiss Records. Possessing a sound that pushes harder into heavy distortion and psychedelic dreamscapes, the new LP sees Hello Mary building out their singular universe of gutsy, virtuosic alt-rock. The band co-produced the album alongside Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Indigo De Souza, Wednesday, Snail Mail) in Asheville, NC.
Today they tease the LP with the release of new single “Down My Life,” and the band’s Helena Straight says, “‘Down My Life’ is possibly the most lyrically powerful song for me on the record. The lyrics are somewhat vague, so the meaning behind it is not totally obvious to the listener, which is how I’d like it to be considering the state I was in when I wrote it.” The song features her angelic vowels on top of warped piano and menacing bass.
Hello Mary is the trio of Straight, Stella Wave, and Mikaela Oppenheimer. They previously shared “Three,” and “0%” which have drawn attention from, among others, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Paste, and Brooklyn Vegan. Emita Ox is the follow up to the band’s acclaimed 2023 self-titled LP, which Rolling Stone called one of the year’s “sharpest, noisiest debuts. Since it’s release the band have ripped into prominence with their fuzzed-out anthems, establishing a darkly playful edge all their own. Pre-order Emita Ox here.
Hello Mary will be playing songs off Emita Ox and other fan favorites as they hit the road in support of the new album. Later this month the band head to the UK for headline shows in London followed by a run as the support for American Football (they support them for a show at Warsaw in Brooklyn on October 26. Hello Mary have also announced a Fall of North America with dates kicking off October 4 in Seattle, WA and concluding November 2 in Houston, TX They play at Los Angeles’ Troubadour on October 10 and New York City’s Bowery Ballroom on October 24. Additionally, the band is confirmed for Las Vegas’ Best Friends Forever Fest October 11 – 13 and Austin’s Levitation Festival on November 3. All shows are listed below and tickets are available here.
On Emita Ox, Hello Mary push harder into heavy distortion and psychedelic dreamscapes, as they build out their singular universe of gutsy strain of rock. The LP’s labyrinthine production reflects how the band’s musical tastes have expanded from Elliott Smith and Radiohead to encompass experimental post-rock acts like Black Midi and Swans. “This album encompasses a lot of our inspirations,” says Oppenheimer. “It also shows what we’re like as a trio, collectively.”
The project reveals the band leveling up as musicians and composers. Recorded in early 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina, the band played all the instruments on Emita Ox and produced it alongside Alex Farrar (Indigo De Souza, Wednesday, Snail Mail). The members’ contributions to the songwriting and production bleed into each other, but the album is a showcase of their individual strengths: Straight’s ethereal vocal melodies and gritty guitar riffs, Wave’s emotive vocals and knotty drum patterns, and Oppenheimer’s diabolical basslines and experimentation with electronic production. “We map out all the sections beforehand, we like to write intricate parts that complement each other,” says Wave.
Featuring songs that span from 2018 to 2023, Emita Ox is also a document of Hello Mary’s past five years together growing up as bandmates and their arrival into young adulthood. First meeting as teenagers in 2019, the band became fast friends through the pandemic—a global crisis that made coming of age feel even more weighty and complicated. “This album represents a period of time that’s very meaningful to us. The songs are related to things that we all know about, even if it’s not out on the table for everyone else,” Wave explains. “The songwriting and recording process was a very heavy time that I will never forget.” Even if the lyrics touch on serious topics, the band maintains a core sense of play and exploration: jamming is their way of working through these feelings in a way that’s “easy and fun,” Straight says.
Created amid these emotions of frustration and camaraderie, Emita Ox sees Hello Mary ruthlessly diving into a thrilling sound of catharsis. On “0%,” Wave launches into piercing screams for the first time. Oppenheimer says that her bandmate’s intense shrieks “makes the song full of energy and really exciting to play,” especially in the song’s breakdown which ends in a cacophony of noise and vibraphone. Meanwhile, “Down My Life,” which Straight says she wrote after “one of the saddest experiences” of her life, features her angelic vowels on top of warped piano and menacing bass. The band even veers towards prog-rock on songs like “Footstep Misstep,” where complex instrumentation and Wave’s dynamic vocals evoke a world in between fantasy and nightmare.
The LP’s title, Emita Ox, is referenced in “Three,” whose lyrics sound plucked from a fairy tale. “‘Three’ was written after I’d been in a creative rut that lasted a couple months,” says Straight. “I wasn’t focused on getting any message across. My intention was just to write a full song, whether I ended up liking it or not.” Though it doesn’t have an intended meaning, the imagery of the girl Emita and her ox is fitting for the band: Oxes are strong and resilient, and much of Emita Ox’s subject matter reveals Hello Mary’s perseverance, as they choose to move through life’s burdens instead of getting beaten down by them. But oxes are also dependable—much like how they see each other and their relationship. “There’s the lyric that goes, ‘Woke to the hands of three/Stitching and fixing me,’” Wave says to Straight, quoting her own words back to her. “I always picture me and Mikaela with you.” It’s a testament to how they’ve witnessed each other’s heartaches and mended each other back up—through their music and their friendship.
Photo Credit: Jessica Gurewitz | Download here
Hello Mary tour dates
Aug 30 – End of the Road Festival – Dorset, UK
Aug 31 – Manchester Psych Fest – Manchester, UK
Sept 1 – Edinburgh Psych Fest – Edinburgh, UK
Sept. 4 – The Shacklewell Arms – London, UK *
Sept 5 – Brixton Windmill – London, UK *
Sept 11 – Rock City – Nottingham, UK %
Sept 12 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow, UK %
Sept 13 – Bristol SWX – Bristol, UK %
Sept 14 – Roundhouse – London, UK %
Oct 4 – Barboza – Seattle, WA *
Oct 6 – Polaris Hall – Portland, OR *
Oct 9 – Brick & Mortar (Popscene) – San Francisco, CA *
Oct 10 – The Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA *
Oct 12 – Best Friends Forever Festival – Las Vegas, NV
Oct 14 – Marquis Theatre – Denver, CO *
Oct 16 – Raccoon Motel – Davenport, IA *
Oct 17 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN *
Oct 19 – Schubas Tavern – Chicago, IL *
Oct 20 – Lager House – Detroit, MI *
Oct 21 – The Garrison – Toronto, ON *
Oct 24 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY *
Oct 25 – Ukie Club – Philadelphia, PA *
Oct 26 – Warsaw – – Brooklyn, NY %
Oct 27 – Songbyrd – Washington, DC *
Oct 29 – Pinhook – Durham, NC *
Oct 30 – Masquerade-Purgatory – Atlanta, GA *
Nov 1 – Andy’s – Denton, TX *
Nov 2 – White Oak Music Hall (upstairs) – Houston, TX *
Nov 3 – Levitation Festival – Austin, TX
