Mamalarky reach peak torque on Hex Key

A bunch of songs about assembling flat-pack furniture and adjusting bike handlebars? Nothing Mamalarky do is predictable, so you can’t rule that out.

The U.S. indie psych-rock four-piece – Livvy Bennett (vocals, guitar), Noor Khan (bass), Dylan Hill (drums), Michael Hunter (keyboard) – has a knack for leaving you puzzled. Their 2018 debut EP which they recorded as a trio – Khan joined later that year – is called Fundamental Thrive Hive. They played their first show as a quartet in a wristwatch factory. There is an instrumental on their debut album, with the title “Singalong”. Quirky?

Possibly, but the band never veers into gratuitous quirkiness. After all, they are consummate professionals who have played and/or toured with the likes of Cherry Glazerr, White Denim, and Faye Webster. It’s just that, like these artists, they resist being pigeonholed and relish flouting convention. Nothing is off limits as they relentlessly pursue the goal of creating songs that are so many perfect little worlds, each one with its own distinctive character. They take sounds, moods, and lyrics that, at first glance, do not seem compatible, then make that pastiche work.

Their own lyrics seldom provide an apt summary of an artist’s music, but Mamalarky are an exception. On “Dance Together”, a track on the band’s second LP, 2022’s Pocket Fantasy, Bennett sings “It’s so appealing / Glittering fractals moving across the roof / I belong in a state of constant motion.” Like fractals, Mamalarky’s songs are complex and reveal infinitely detailed patterns when you zoom in. And they’re never static – they swirl, cascade, ripple, and grow.

Given their approach to songwriting – or rather, songcrafting – the group do not strive for sonic consistency on their albums. On the contrary, they want the maximum amount of diversity. “The worst thing you can say about a Mamalarky song is ‘This sounds like another song of yours’”, Khan once said. Accordingly, the variety Hex Key offers throughout its 13 songs is bewildering.

Opener “Broken Bones” is a groovy hard rock tune, with the tightness of the rhythm section in stark contrast to the feelings of insecurity expressed in the lyrics (“I wish that I could open up to you / But I can’t be sure what you’d do”). Unfazed by the deafening synth explosions that keep occurring around it, the stylophone croaks like a frog on the eerie “The Quiet”. Many an alternative rock band in the early 90s would have sold their soul for the riff on “Anhedonia”, while “#1 Best of All Time” finds Bennett as an offbeat chanteuse, oblivious to the frantic tempo changes as she is trying to convince herself that she’s good enough (“Marathon runner, I placed last / However, I felt just as fast”). She then pleads on the spacey “Take Me”, snarls at the “big bad wolf” that is the titular character of “MF”, and turns enamoured on “Nothing Lasts Forever”, a dreamy pop tune about the doubts being in love brings with it (“Am I your forever or just another one?”). Off-kilter synth effects, distorted guitars or thumping drums are her constant companions on her journey.

Such idiosyncrasy is not unprecedented, and those well versed in 21st-century indie music will find similarities between Mamalarky and some of their contemporaries. Deerhoof’s time signatures are often all over the place, Tune-Yards are famous for their funky grooves, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra have perfected immersive pop-psychedelia. What sets Mamalarky apart is their ability to display these skills and techniques within the same song, making captivating additions – some comforting, others unsettling – for good measure, without ever sounding forced.

The band’s singularity makes their music something of an acquired taste. Hex Key is not accessible to a wider public. Or rather, only bits of it are, such as the catchy choruses of “Take Me” and “Nothing Lasts Forever”. This relative obscurity grates, not only because these songs are too good not to reach a bigger audience, but also because they address what all of us have to deal with in life: hope, love, uncertainty, and soldiering on no matter what. Mainstream success isn’t beyond Mamalarky’s grasp, but they would have to ditch their eccentricities to achieve it. Heaven forbid they ever do.