Hello Mary announce new album ‘Emita Ox’

News

10 Jul

Hello Mary have announced their new album Emita Ox, set to be released on 13 September via Frenchkiss Records. Alongside this announcement, the New York City-based alt-rock trio has shared a new single, “Three,” which continues their streak of innovative and powerful music.

“Three” is a captivating track that showcases Hello Mary’s distinctive blend of heavy distortion and ethereal melodies. The song’s lyrics evoke a fairytale-like vision, with a narrative centred around a young girl named Emita and her pet ox.

Guitarist and vocalist Helena Straight explains:

“I was describing a vision I had, but I don’t really know where it came from.”

Though the song doesn’t have a specific intended meaning, it reflects the band’s themes of strength and resilience.

The new album Emita Ox represents Hello Mary’s most ambitious project to date. Co-produced with Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Indigo De Souza, Wednesday, Snail Mail) in Asheville, North Carolina, the album pushes the band’s sound further into heavy distortion and psychedelic dreamscapes. The trio—composed of Helena Straight, Stella Wave, and Mikaela Oppenheimer—describes the album as a testament to their collective strength and perseverance. The album features a range of influences, from Elliott Smith and Radiohead to experimental post-rock acts like Black Midi and Swans. Oppenheimer notes, “This album encompasses a lot of our inspirations. It also shows what we're like as a trio, collectively.”

Hello Mary has been making waves in the music scene, receiving praise from notable publications like The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Paste Magazine. Their previous single “0%” was celebrated for its raw energy and emotive power, setting high expectations for Emita Ox. The band’s ability to blend intricate musicianship with raw, emotional performances has earned them a dedicated following. Rolling Stone described their previous work as “sharp and self-assured,” while Alternative Press hailed them as “one of the coolest acts to come out of NYC in recent years.”

In support of Emita Ox, Hello Mary will be embarking on their first UK tour, including a headline show at Windmill Brixton and performances at End Of The Road Festival, Manchester Psych Fest, and Edinburgh Psych Fest. They will also be main tour support for American Football. The band will continue their momentum with a North American tour this fall, kicking off on October 4 in Seattle and concluding on November 2 in Houston. They will also make appearances at various festivals, including Denver’s Underground Music Festival, Las Vegas’ Best Friends Forever Fest, and Austin’s Levitation Festival. Tickets for all dates go on sale on July 12.

Hello Mary has spent the last several years refining their intricate alt-rock sound and musicianship. The culmination of this work—done in the studio, at practice, and on the road—is reflected in Emita Ox. The album marks the follow-up to their acclaimed 2023 self-titled LP, which Rolling Stone called one of the year’s “sharpest, noisiest debuts,” with their most audacious project yet. On Emita Ox, Hello Mary pushes harder into heavy distortion and psychedelic dreamscapes as they build out their singular universe of gutsy rock. The LP’s labyrinthine production reflects how the band’s musical tastes have expanded. “This album represents a period of time that’s very meaningful to us,” Wave explains. “The songs are related to things that we all know about, even if it’s not out on the table for everyone else.” 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 “make 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 vocals 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: oxen 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 oxen 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.

Save the date for Emita Ox, and watch the visualiser for “Three”: