HEX - Vast Halos & Hex
Early 1991. High School was over and my first year of college was in full swing. I had fallen in and out of, but not really out of, love and was currently single. As much studying of biology and chemistry, etc. that I did, I still found plenty of time for my passion pf music. And, honestly, not having a girlfriend meant that I spent most of my passion on music. I was already fully in love with The Church, and was lucky enough to really get into the band as they were putting more and more music out together and solo. Steve Kilbey, in particular, was quite prolific. I was always hungry for more, though. It was my coping mechanism for stress and school was a lot of stress. Female vocals, in particular, were suddenly in my radar in a big way. Julianne Regan of All About Eve had been there for a while and I had been introduced to the album Watermark by Enya. Suddenly female vocals meant more to me than ever before, they were my antianxiety agent of choice.
That’s when I found out that Steve Kilbey had put out a new album under the name of Hex with Donnette Thayer who had been in the band Game Theory. That album was called Vast Halos. When I went to Tower Records to get the album, I found that there were actually TWO to choose from! A self-titled debut and the aforementioned Vast Halos. I had only enough money for one. Choices, choices. After much, much debate I picked the new album, Vast Halos.
I got out to the car and put the tape, yes the cassette tape. It was 91. CD players were not standard in cars, especially the car I drove, a 1979 Buick Skyhawk. In fact, my “tape player” was just a boom box that I kept on the passenger seat. I’m sure my friend Mark has many fond memories of that boom box on his lap.
What do you mean, “you don’t understand why I was single”? I was cool, beyond cool. Yeah, no, I can’t even lie to myself about that one. At least I had good taste in music.
So, full confession time: I have never done drugs. Nicotine, yes once or twice, but never found any enjoyment from smoking and, at 18/19, I didn’t drink either. However, when I put in the cassette and the music of Monarch began I was injected with the only drug I needed, right into my ears and straight to my brain. Then the double dose hit when the vocals began. When I heard Donnette Thayer singing for the first time on Monarch I knew that this, this, was my drug. And I wanted more. Luckily I had nine more songs to go, plus another album when I could afford it.
Maybe it was the whole not having a girlfriend thing that weighed on my subconscious more than I knew but I fell in love with Donnette’s voice. Beyond beautiful, it is commanding, vulnerable, sultry, sexy, innocent, and at times world-weary. Maybe it was the recent breakup making me think these things. Maybe. I’m sure it had some effect on my psyche. But this was real. This voice was amazing. By the time I got to Hollywood in Winter’s spoken monologue part the game was over. This was incredible. The track Hell, made my soul ache. It was a beautiful ache.
That was it. I needed more. I borrowed the $10 or whatever it was and was back at Tower Records the next day to buy the first album. I literally needed more Donnette Thayer vocals in my life. And, dear God, first Hex album was just as good, if slightly different: more experimental. For a time, I was so lost in the music of Donnette’s vocals that I wasn’t listening to the music of the instruments. In my defense it’s easy to get lost there. Even listening now, it still very much reminds me of then. Of who I was, where I was mentally. I just have a different insight now.
Eventually I paid attention to the music, too. I do get a sense of Steve Kilbey’s solo albums in the music. His musicianship is amazing and it works so well with Donnette’s wide vocal range. A match made in heaven that I had no idea that I wanted, that I needed, until it hit me with a one-two punch. It wasn’t until years later that I found out that It was Donnette that inspired the name of The Church’s best selling album Starfish. It was Steve’s nickname for Donnette!
I almost forgot to mention the cd inserts. For Vast Halos, one side has the lyrics all written out for you in a kind of continuous stream. The other credits Donnette Thayer with organic sounds, Steve Kilbey with electrical impulse control, and Jim McGrath with pounding, shaking, and apple eating. Hex has a picture of the beautiful Donnette on one side and the other has stream of consciousness Steve explaining a past-future world that he strives describe in his music. Or something like that, Steve is much smarter than I am. Donnette also has a stream of consciousness text, too. It’s not as verbose, but definitely more evocative than Mr. Kilbey’s.
I’ve never met Donnette Thayer IRL, but she’s been incredibly nice online to me, which makes these albums even more special to me. I remember when her album Chaos and Wonder came out, I was sooo excited to order it. When it came there was a hand written note from Donnette thanking me, which I thought was super cool. Then, months later, I got a Christmas card from her, too! That made my whole year. It was such an amazing thing that it made me a fan for life. On the old people’s social media FB, Donnette still treats me like a real friend, not just another internet stalker. I once briefly met Steve Kilbey in an alley behind the Trocadero theater in Philadelphia. It didn’t go anywhere near like I’m sure many interactions have gone down in the alley behind the Troc. It was after a church concert and the band were awesome enough to sign some CDs for me. He’s also super nice and cool on FB, too. My point? Both of these artists are actually cool, nice people who make amazing music. Do yourself a favor and seek these two albums out. They are fantastic songs from great people.
(In reverse album order, since that’s how I listened to them for the first time)
VAST HALOS
Monarch- I have to say, these days if an opening track of an album doesn’t immediately suck me in the likelihood of me listening to the whole thing is pretty slim. Maybe it’s adult onset attention deficit disorder, or maybe it’s just that there’s so much good stuff to listen to that I don’t have patience anymore. Regardless, if this album came out today I would listen to the whole thing in a single rapt session. Holy smokes. Who was this singing? Quick, clever, right lyrics over powerful, unrelenting music. With a few quirky sounds added? Yes, Mr. Kilbey & Ms. Thayer, sign me up. I need more.
Shelter- Ahh, yes. Here’s some Kilbey sound. And the vocals? The first song was no fluke. There was really something there tugging at my emotions. By the chorus, this was a track that I could see myself saying to someone. At this point I was ecstatic. This album was brilliant and I was only two songs in.
March- Again, in the intro I get a sense of Steve Kilbey. This wouldn’t be out of place, I think, on Earthed or Unearthed. The difference, of course, is Donnette Thayer. It was probably here that I fell hard for her voice. There is just something about it, something in the precision and perfection of her pronunciation to goes along with her overall melodic voice. It’s a very easy voice to love. And when she sings “I’d like to be the rescuee, just like the part you wrote for me”. I so desperately wanted someone to say those words to me.
Centaur- I was completely ready to follow Steve and Donnette to a land where everything was going to be justified. And I was glad I didn’t have to worry. I going to get ready now. Don’t leave without me.
Antelope- This starts off again as a Steve Kilbey song album song, which is fantastic. But then it turns into a sultry Donnette Thayer song with lyrics that could have come from an old fairy tail. Sigh. Great song all around. Years later I bought a compilation CD called Dr Death’s Vol IV: The Marvels of Insect Life. On the companion instrumental cd there was an instrumental version of Antelope. I was amazed. It was good, but my mind filled in the words every time it played.
Hollywood in Winter- The end for me. My favorite Hex song. My favorite Donnette vocal. It encompasses everything that is amazing about her vocals. There are parts that are vulnerable, parts where its commanding. Then we hear what seems to be Donnette having a conversation with someone and I just want to know more of what’s going on. Does that make me a voyeur? Maybe?
Aside from the amazing vocals, Jim McGrath’s pounding, shaking, & apple eating really do their part to get the blood pumping.
Orpheus Circuit- The imagery of this song feels like it could have been written by Lord Dunsany or Mary Shelley. Is it a love song or a nightmarescape? I’m not 100% sold it’s one or the other.
Aquamarine- My favorite musical intro of the album, and throughout. Thank you Steve Kilbey. And if all this song had was Donnette sighing the word Aquamarine it would be enough. But it has so much more, I would be happy with an album of songs like this.
Hell- A real old fashioned crooner. The steamy, sultry qualities of Donnette’s voice is on full display here. Like I said before, this song makes my heart ache. It’s a beautiful ache that you just don’t want to end.
Vast Halos- We end with a heavily eastern influenced trip, with simple but effective lyrics. Thayer, Kilbey, & McGrath put to bed a spectacular album with a spectacular song. Long live HEX.
HEX
Diviner- While this, the first album, starts are less intense than Vast Halos it’s by no means inferior. Donnette’s voice is incredible and the music is definitely Steve at his best.
Hermaphrodite- A Kilbey-only penned track. It’s probably my favorite song on the album. They are some of my favorite lyrics Steve has written. My favorite being “there’s just one and I give us to you”. Donnette, though, gives a special kind of life to these lyrics that work better with her fragile-strong vocals than they would have with anyone else.
Ethereal Message- Another great song. THIS SONG HAS A VIDEO!!! Okay, this is my favorite song on the album, probably. This song is what music is made for. It is a beautiful track from start to finish and it gives you the best these two have to offer in words and music. You can’t help but fall in love with this song.
Mercury Towers- This one always throws me off because the lyrics contain the name of the next song (“Out of the Pink Sky”). The 3-minute mark hits one of my favorite moments in the two albums. When Donnette sings “when I feel bigger than life, I hold a mirror up to my breath”, it’s one of the most powerful moments. It really exemplifies what I mean by Donnette’s fragile-strong vocals. It starts with such force, then pulls back in an almost heart wrenching way.
Out of The Pink Sky- A 2:48 sound experiment credited to just Kilbey, which seems weird to me. It sounds like a warmup session for both of them. Usually, this kind of track would elicit a skip from me but I’m always just as drawn to it and I’ll sit listening intently sometimes trying to figure out what Donnette is saying other times trying to figure out who the other voice is and are they really saying “Hex.”
Fire Island- A slow burner. Dead sexy vocals by Donnette, steady classic Kilbey sound. Two great tastes that taste great together. At the time if somebody had given me just this one track and said that that’s all that they did it would have made me invent the internet on the spot, email them both and demand more. Luckily for me the internet was already a thing and they made more music.
In The Net- I’m sure I’m wrong, but I picture this song as this epic, nearly 7-minute instrumental track from the Earthed sessions that Donnette filled in with brilliant spur-of-the-moment vocals. Once again, we get the best of both of them.
Silvermine- God I think Donnette sounds so amazing here. Steve knows how to produce her vocal sound to be most effective. Maybe it’s the echoing quality or just the way she knows just the right time to go all out and the right time be restrained. I don’t know but we, the listeners, are better off for it either way.
Elizabeth Green- Elizabeth Green musically reminds me of something from All About Eve, but with a Kilbey-esque experimental flair. I don’t know if that exactly sounds like a compliment, but in my mind it is. Maybe this way: it’s like a Martha’s Harbor-level great song put through a Picasso filter. That’s a compliment, right? In any regard, it’s meant to be.
An Arrangement- The Feels. All of them.
From what I understand the song was originally written with Margot Smith in mind to sing but it came out here first. Margot got to do her own version on her album Taste. I find both versions equally brilliant. Although both barely resemble the version Steve has on his Freaky Conclusions cd.
That’s when I found out that Steve Kilbey had put out a new album under the name of Hex with Donnette Thayer who had been in the band Game Theory. That album was called Vast Halos. When I went to Tower Records to get the album, I found that there were actually TWO to choose from! A self-titled debut and the aforementioned Vast Halos. I had only enough money for one. Choices, choices. After much, much debate I picked the new album, Vast Halos.
I got out to the car and put the tape, yes the cassette tape. It was 91. CD players were not standard in cars, especially the car I drove, a 1979 Buick Skyhawk. In fact, my “tape player” was just a boom box that I kept on the passenger seat. I’m sure my friend Mark has many fond memories of that boom box on his lap.
What do you mean, “you don’t understand why I was single”? I was cool, beyond cool. Yeah, no, I can’t even lie to myself about that one. At least I had good taste in music.
So, full confession time: I have never done drugs. Nicotine, yes once or twice, but never found any enjoyment from smoking and, at 18/19, I didn’t drink either. However, when I put in the cassette and the music of Monarch began I was injected with the only drug I needed, right into my ears and straight to my brain. Then the double dose hit when the vocals began. When I heard Donnette Thayer singing for the first time on Monarch I knew that this, this, was my drug. And I wanted more. Luckily I had nine more songs to go, plus another album when I could afford it.
Maybe it was the whole not having a girlfriend thing that weighed on my subconscious more than I knew but I fell in love with Donnette’s voice. Beyond beautiful, it is commanding, vulnerable, sultry, sexy, innocent, and at times world-weary. Maybe it was the recent breakup making me think these things. Maybe. I’m sure it had some effect on my psyche. But this was real. This voice was amazing. By the time I got to Hollywood in Winter’s spoken monologue part the game was over. This was incredible. The track Hell, made my soul ache. It was a beautiful ache.
That was it. I needed more. I borrowed the $10 or whatever it was and was back at Tower Records the next day to buy the first album. I literally needed more Donnette Thayer vocals in my life. And, dear God, first Hex album was just as good, if slightly different: more experimental. For a time, I was so lost in the music of Donnette’s vocals that I wasn’t listening to the music of the instruments. In my defense it’s easy to get lost there. Even listening now, it still very much reminds me of then. Of who I was, where I was mentally. I just have a different insight now.
Eventually I paid attention to the music, too. I do get a sense of Steve Kilbey’s solo albums in the music. His musicianship is amazing and it works so well with Donnette’s wide vocal range. A match made in heaven that I had no idea that I wanted, that I needed, until it hit me with a one-two punch. It wasn’t until years later that I found out that It was Donnette that inspired the name of The Church’s best selling album Starfish. It was Steve’s nickname for Donnette!
I almost forgot to mention the cd inserts. For Vast Halos, one side has the lyrics all written out for you in a kind of continuous stream. The other credits Donnette Thayer with organic sounds, Steve Kilbey with electrical impulse control, and Jim McGrath with pounding, shaking, and apple eating. Hex has a picture of the beautiful Donnette on one side and the other has stream of consciousness Steve explaining a past-future world that he strives describe in his music. Or something like that, Steve is much smarter than I am. Donnette also has a stream of consciousness text, too. It’s not as verbose, but definitely more evocative than Mr. Kilbey’s.
I’ve never met Donnette Thayer IRL, but she’s been incredibly nice online to me, which makes these albums even more special to me. I remember when her album Chaos and Wonder came out, I was sooo excited to order it. When it came there was a hand written note from Donnette thanking me, which I thought was super cool. Then, months later, I got a Christmas card from her, too! That made my whole year. It was such an amazing thing that it made me a fan for life. On the old people’s social media FB, Donnette still treats me like a real friend, not just another internet stalker. I once briefly met Steve Kilbey in an alley behind the Trocadero theater in Philadelphia. It didn’t go anywhere near like I’m sure many interactions have gone down in the alley behind the Troc. It was after a church concert and the band were awesome enough to sign some CDs for me. He’s also super nice and cool on FB, too. My point? Both of these artists are actually cool, nice people who make amazing music. Do yourself a favor and seek these two albums out. They are fantastic songs from great people.
(In reverse album order, since that’s how I listened to them for the first time)
VAST HALOS
Monarch- I have to say, these days if an opening track of an album doesn’t immediately suck me in the likelihood of me listening to the whole thing is pretty slim. Maybe it’s adult onset attention deficit disorder, or maybe it’s just that there’s so much good stuff to listen to that I don’t have patience anymore. Regardless, if this album came out today I would listen to the whole thing in a single rapt session. Holy smokes. Who was this singing? Quick, clever, right lyrics over powerful, unrelenting music. With a few quirky sounds added? Yes, Mr. Kilbey & Ms. Thayer, sign me up. I need more.
Shelter- Ahh, yes. Here’s some Kilbey sound. And the vocals? The first song was no fluke. There was really something there tugging at my emotions. By the chorus, this was a track that I could see myself saying to someone. At this point I was ecstatic. This album was brilliant and I was only two songs in.
March- Again, in the intro I get a sense of Steve Kilbey. This wouldn’t be out of place, I think, on Earthed or Unearthed. The difference, of course, is Donnette Thayer. It was probably here that I fell hard for her voice. There is just something about it, something in the precision and perfection of her pronunciation to goes along with her overall melodic voice. It’s a very easy voice to love. And when she sings “I’d like to be the rescuee, just like the part you wrote for me”. I so desperately wanted someone to say those words to me.
Centaur- I was completely ready to follow Steve and Donnette to a land where everything was going to be justified. And I was glad I didn’t have to worry. I going to get ready now. Don’t leave without me.
Antelope- This starts off again as a Steve Kilbey song album song, which is fantastic. But then it turns into a sultry Donnette Thayer song with lyrics that could have come from an old fairy tail. Sigh. Great song all around. Years later I bought a compilation CD called Dr Death’s Vol IV: The Marvels of Insect Life. On the companion instrumental cd there was an instrumental version of Antelope. I was amazed. It was good, but my mind filled in the words every time it played.
Hollywood in Winter- The end for me. My favorite Hex song. My favorite Donnette vocal. It encompasses everything that is amazing about her vocals. There are parts that are vulnerable, parts where its commanding. Then we hear what seems to be Donnette having a conversation with someone and I just want to know more of what’s going on. Does that make me a voyeur? Maybe?
Aside from the amazing vocals, Jim McGrath’s pounding, shaking, & apple eating really do their part to get the blood pumping.
Orpheus Circuit- The imagery of this song feels like it could have been written by Lord Dunsany or Mary Shelley. Is it a love song or a nightmarescape? I’m not 100% sold it’s one or the other.
Aquamarine- My favorite musical intro of the album, and throughout. Thank you Steve Kilbey. And if all this song had was Donnette sighing the word Aquamarine it would be enough. But it has so much more, I would be happy with an album of songs like this.
Hell- A real old fashioned crooner. The steamy, sultry qualities of Donnette’s voice is on full display here. Like I said before, this song makes my heart ache. It’s a beautiful ache that you just don’t want to end.
Vast Halos- We end with a heavily eastern influenced trip, with simple but effective lyrics. Thayer, Kilbey, & McGrath put to bed a spectacular album with a spectacular song. Long live HEX.
HEX
Diviner- While this, the first album, starts are less intense than Vast Halos it’s by no means inferior. Donnette’s voice is incredible and the music is definitely Steve at his best.
Hermaphrodite- A Kilbey-only penned track. It’s probably my favorite song on the album. They are some of my favorite lyrics Steve has written. My favorite being “there’s just one and I give us to you”. Donnette, though, gives a special kind of life to these lyrics that work better with her fragile-strong vocals than they would have with anyone else.
Ethereal Message- Another great song. THIS SONG HAS A VIDEO!!! Okay, this is my favorite song on the album, probably. This song is what music is made for. It is a beautiful track from start to finish and it gives you the best these two have to offer in words and music. You can’t help but fall in love with this song.
Mercury Towers- This one always throws me off because the lyrics contain the name of the next song (“Out of the Pink Sky”). The 3-minute mark hits one of my favorite moments in the two albums. When Donnette sings “when I feel bigger than life, I hold a mirror up to my breath”, it’s one of the most powerful moments. It really exemplifies what I mean by Donnette’s fragile-strong vocals. It starts with such force, then pulls back in an almost heart wrenching way.
Out of The Pink Sky- A 2:48 sound experiment credited to just Kilbey, which seems weird to me. It sounds like a warmup session for both of them. Usually, this kind of track would elicit a skip from me but I’m always just as drawn to it and I’ll sit listening intently sometimes trying to figure out what Donnette is saying other times trying to figure out who the other voice is and are they really saying “Hex.”
Fire Island- A slow burner. Dead sexy vocals by Donnette, steady classic Kilbey sound. Two great tastes that taste great together. At the time if somebody had given me just this one track and said that that’s all that they did it would have made me invent the internet on the spot, email them both and demand more. Luckily for me the internet was already a thing and they made more music.
In The Net- I’m sure I’m wrong, but I picture this song as this epic, nearly 7-minute instrumental track from the Earthed sessions that Donnette filled in with brilliant spur-of-the-moment vocals. Once again, we get the best of both of them.
Silvermine- God I think Donnette sounds so amazing here. Steve knows how to produce her vocal sound to be most effective. Maybe it’s the echoing quality or just the way she knows just the right time to go all out and the right time be restrained. I don’t know but we, the listeners, are better off for it either way.
Elizabeth Green- Elizabeth Green musically reminds me of something from All About Eve, but with a Kilbey-esque experimental flair. I don’t know if that exactly sounds like a compliment, but in my mind it is. Maybe this way: it’s like a Martha’s Harbor-level great song put through a Picasso filter. That’s a compliment, right? In any regard, it’s meant to be.
An Arrangement- The Feels. All of them.
From what I understand the song was originally written with Margot Smith in mind to sing but it came out here first. Margot got to do her own version on her album Taste. I find both versions equally brilliant. Although both barely resemble the version Steve has on his Freaky Conclusions cd.
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