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Hex can play and the wordless instrumental arrangement has plenty to say. Act Natural is certainly for the more adventurous audiophiles among us. The album is an engrossing journey where experimental spirit, creative inventiveness and killer grooves meet on planet oscillation. A must listen, followed by further must listens in which you'll discover more and more to like about Hex Horizontal. It is remarkable to think this is a debut release. A band to watch.
Hex Horizontal also say what's on their collective mind without actually using words, instead employing harsh slabs of electronic noise interspersed with intimately spacey prog-rock interludes.
Hex Horizontal captured the stunning display of sound known as Act Natural with the legendary Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago, displaying the trademark tonality that the highly respected engineer is known for. This is the first time I've personally heard that trademark tone applied to such an adventurous and wild voyage in experimental-rock and it's absolutely breathtaking from beginning to end.
The kind of sounds you'd associate with strangled guitars, misused effects pedals and an impishly deranged attitude in refusing to kowtow to any prescribed musical form, Hex Horizontal add a whole new context to the notion of freeform into the bargain frying the ears and minds of all who hear.
This is music that sounds ahead of its time, and one of the coolest instrumental albums I've heard all year.
Hex Horizontal... wrestles rock music’s pre-existing syntaxes to the ground, and reassembles the pieces into free-wheeling miniature dialogues. Free rock music isn’t normally made as much to enjoy as these guys produce it. To boot, there’s some downright clairvoyant improvisation between the duo.
-The Quietus