Hex - Jon Mckiel
You’ve Changed Records
Released May 3rd, 2024
It’s a new era for Jon Mckiel, one many years in the making. New Brunswick’s best kept secret has finally been let loose, rejoice!
As a fellow NBer, I’ve been fortunately acquainted with Jon’s work since the early aughts, witnessing his development from understated songwriter, through his rock n’ roll years, and now as he crystallizes into an internationally appreciated trans-genre experimenter. To see an artist maintain allegiance to his craft for decades, steadily plodding along, head down, but always aiming higher; it’s inspirational, and makes his recent successes (via Pitchfork & Polaris Music Prize, to name a few) that much more meaningful.
Jon Mckiel’s latest release, Hex, could be seen as a sequel to 2020’s Bobby Joe Hope, with both albums leaning ever-further from his indie rock roots and toward a sample-based, lo-fi palette. But while Bobby Joe Hope has a certain level of playfulness, Hex is like its evil step-sister - each element introduced feels innocent at first, but somehow sinister upon second listen. Under a coastal fog of dystopian allegory, Hex feels like deja-vu, nostalgic for a moment that’s unfolding before your eyes.
While Jon’s songwriting and production style has continued to develop, one signature element remains consistent through his catalogue, and is quintessentially represented on Hex: his voice. Jon’s distinct approach to vocal harmonies are perfectly unsettling, sometimes using artificial modulation to create an underwordly pitch-shift. He doesn’t shy away from using gospel-like euphony (particularly on tracks like String and Everlee), while at other times employing more dissonant intervals to give simple words a more menacing undercoating. Rightfully garnering comparisons to Chad VanGaalen, who employs similarly unhinged vocal tactics, Jon’s approach is more subtle, more subdued, beckoning in for careful attention. Hex is replete with masterful vocal deliveries - from delicate road-worn whispers to igniting chants.
The eponymous album opener is a stand-out, one part free jazz, one part lo-fi study beats, one part ghost story. Delivered in a mantra-like croon, Jon sings of something at once indiscernible and deeply-felt: “a good eye has a lot to lend you, but some people maybe I can’t see, in the midnight of my mind they put a hex on me.”
“Hex” is followed swiftly by “String”, a circular song with a slow but steady build - arpeggiated synths fly off into the distance while desert blues guitars meander in and out of focus. With growing harmonies, Jon asks the listener to consider the potential of all things big and small, giving voice to the soft power of the everyday: “in the new sunshine, you can lose your mind / in remembering, one song can kill the king.”
Warping vinyl spins, breathy string arrangements, muzik-nodding beats, Tuareg rock - no pastiche is off limits for Jon and his longtime collaborator Jay Crocker (aka JOYFULTALK). But while others might fail to connect the dots, Jon Mckiel’s years of experimentation have allowed him to deliver Hex as a tie that binds, a focused and generous offering to an unknown source.
- Penelope Stevens