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Hexvessel premier new track

Posted in News with tags Hexvessel, John Lennon, Lewis Carroll, Plastic Ono Band, Purson, Roadburn Festival, Salem, Yoko Ono on 4th April 2013 by Nico Solheim-Davidson, the North Sea Poet

Hexvessel have premiered their new track Woman of Salem on the Roadburn Festival’s official website. Fresh from a victorious run at the SXSW festival in America late last month, "the rising stars of psychedelic folk in Europe" are preparing to release a new EP entitled Iron Marsh through Svart Records on May 10^th, which is intended to be the companion record to last year’s critically acclaimed No Holier Temple opus. In preparation for a European tour with label mates Sabbath Assembly starting next week, you can hear Hexvessel‘s Woman of Salem in its entirety at this location.

Woman of Salem is a Yoko Ono cover song, from the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band album Feeling The Space, which was released back in 1973. Mat from Hexvessel comments that the idea behind covering the track is "in tribute to Ono, who is as remarkable as a producer/songwriter as she is an activist and artist. She used her creativity to awaken generations to the concept of world peace in an age where activism on environment and social issues was considered radical, extreme, and dangerous. Her music is underrated genius, and her influence on John Lennon’s inspirational music is not regarded highly enough. Her art continues to influence HEXVESSEL, and this track is a tip of the hat to her."

The track features guest lead vocals by Rosie from Purson, who Hexvessel consider a kindred spirit as pioneers of progressing the vintage revival sound. "Purson are one of the bands in the scene today that I’d be really proud to be associated with," says Mat. "They’re not about rehashing Sabbath occult doom. I haven’t heard an band as eclectic since Queen with their surreal old English psych and Lewis Carroll charm. They’re doing their own thing and Rosie’s a tough female artist holding her own, like Ono, so her contribution is fitting. I hope people get off on this song as much as we did making it."

Noisey–Music By Vice premier Hexvessel’s new video for His Portal Tomb

Posted in News with tags Hexvessel, His Portal Tomb, Jim Morrison, Ken Nordine, No Holier Temple, Svart Records, Van Der Graaf Generator on 21st September 2012 by Nico Solheim-Davidson, the North Sea Poet

Today, Noisey (Music by VICE) premieres the exclusive new video for Hexvessel‘s His Portal Tomb. The song hails from Hexvessel‘s second and latest album, No Holier Temple, released last week by Svart Records. With all music and lyrics written by vocalist/mastermind Mat McNerney, the video for Hexvessel‘s His Portal Tomb was directed by Marja Konttinen for Brutal Gardener, with source material from Lot In Sodom (1933) by James Sibley Watson. McNerney explains the concept behind the His Portal Tomb video: “Images and inscriptions on Egyptian coffins magically place the mummy of the deceased at the centre of a miniature version of the universe. The body as a way in and out of existence. The tomb as a portal. Our mortal prison, where we’re to endure the wrath of god and the punishment of angels. Jude 1:7 records that both Sodom and Gomorrah were ‘giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.’ I wonder what the sarcophagus would tell us, if he could recall his life of earthly pleasures?” The video for Hexvessel‘s His Portal Tomb can be viewed exclusively here.

Hexvessel‘s No Holier Temple fuses the acoustic ’70s folk vibe of its critically acclaimed Dawnbearer predecessor into a more psychedelic, electric, doom-folk sound with Manzarek-like keys, screeching & rhythmic Velvet Underground violins, Miles Davis trumpets, and hypnotic freakouts. Weaving the uncanny songs together are the narrative vocals of Mat McNerney – who on this album has matured into the bastard child of Burke Shelley, young Jon Anderson, and Paul Simon – and inspired by the progressive, spaced-out haze of bands like Amon Düül II, Van Der Graaf Generator, and Ultimate Spinach – whose song “Your Head Is Reeling” they cover with religious abandon – their sound now expands outward from their eerie, signature, ritual-esque intros into a genre-twisting cauldron of otherworldly rock and the late-night, dreamy spoken-word of artists such as Jim Morrison (An American Prayer) and Ken Nordine.

The front cover (below) is by the artist Bastian Kalous and represents the reverence to the native forest and nature that Hexvessel wish to raise awareness and preservation of. The themes of the album “are inspired by the work of great men like Scottish-American naturalist and preservationist John Muir and more recent radical environmental advocates Dave Foreman and Howie Wolke,” discussing the definition of what makes something holy and sacred.

Frontman and founder Mat McNerney says of the album: “The songs were written specifically to be channeled by a group. This is the sound of a cult, all focused on summoning the same magic, joined in prayer, haunted by the same demons. We actively pushed for a new way to evolve our sound. I purposely strove to make this album a calculated move-on from Dawnbearer. This isn’t about using symbols of the occult. This is about a way of living that returns the old gods to their rightful place. We’re a family that worships nature through word and sound. We hope you will join us.”