Hypoluxo - "Hypoluxo"

Words by Zach Romano.

We almost didn’t get Hypoluxo’s self-titled third album. Leading up to Hypoluxo, the Brooklyn four-piece dealt with label issues that they say “could have broken a less tenacious group.” Luckily, the band stuck it out, as they’ve delivered a tight, catchy, and always grounded follow-up to 2018’s Running on a Fence. On LP3, the band fully embraces the angularity of guitar-driven post-punk while avoiding the self-seriousness that often accompanies (especially recent) albums adjacent to its sound.

Clocking in at a brisk twenty-seven minutes spread over ten tracks, Hypoluxo grabs you and doesn’t let you go, just allowing time for a breath after the album ends and before you invariably hit “play” again. The band’s previous two records were a Captured Tracks-esque slacker dream pop, but this one is more staccato and immediate, with driving basslines that often carry the melody, metronomic drums, and barbed guitar flourishes. Singer Samuel Cogen’s vocal style has developed, too. On Hypoluxo’s first album, he used a fried, baritone mumble that strangely brought to mind early cuts from The National. Running on a Fence saw him moving up in his register, and on Hypoluxo, he mostly operates in a carefully enunciated high register speak-sing punctuated by exhilarating yelps and gasps.

Cogen’s lyrics are down to earth, honest, and frequently very funny; he sings about the things happening to him and the things he sees, whether mundane or big picture. On opener “Seth Meyers,” Cogen relates an argument in a car after the driver misses a turn and ends up stuck in traffic as a result. Yes, this could be a metaphor for something, but it could also simply be a retelling of a frustrating moment from a road trip. “Nimbus” is a driving, hysterically over-the-top screed against the weathermen who got a forecast wrong and left Cogen standing in the rain, but knowing the band’s history with their label makes one wonder where lines like “Industry of luck, chock full of lies!” are really directed.

The songs here are more than just journal entries, though. Hypoluxo tackles stasis and its accompanying frustrations, how being still or stuck can create more nausea than any type of motion can, and the malaise that results when even the artistic endeavors that make your dead-end day job bearable start to seem like headaches. Everything comes together on “Shock,” LP3’s penultimate and (in my opinion) best track. The song deals with NYC’s rent crisis, and in its outro, the guitar and rhythm section interlock as Cogen is joined by another voice for the only time on the album; it’s a perfect minute of music.

You can purchase Hypoluxo on limited edition cassette via Bandcamp. The album is also available on all streaming platforms. Keep up with the band by following them on Instagram and liking them on Facebook.

You can also revisit the band’s November 2018 appearance on the Look At My Records! radio program right here on the site or via Spotify.