Hexes & Ohs
Dave Jaffer
|
Donnelly: "We kind of shaved off the other people"
|
Montreal's Hexes & Ohs find perfection in twos
In their 13 years together, Hexes & Ohs' Heidi Donnelly and Edmund Lam have kind of gone through it all and come out the other end strong, placing themselves in a perfect position to ride their career in music as far as the rails go. That's the first thing. The second thing is that they've been a couple the entire time.Before you go "oh that's so sweet" and dismiss them, please, back up. The Montreal duo know full well the reputation of most boyfriend/ girlfriend acts and have heard the criticisms usually levied at such bands - which is particularly weird, since it really doesn't apply to them.
"I guess people have a tougher time taking us seriously," says Lam of the flak he and Donnelly unwittingly put themselves in a position to receive. "They feel it's about image, they feel that we purposely put that forward. I don't think we've ever brought it up, that we're a couple."
Donnelly, a real estate agent, and Lam, a graphic designer, met in high school. His best friend was her brother, and they used to play in bands together, even back then. After a few years, a funny thing happened - they stayed together, and kept on playing together, and the bands they were in kept reducing in size until it was just the two of them remaining.
"I think all the different bands we've been in have shaped what we do now. It's kind of a linear progression," says Lam. "We started off with [Heidi's] brother's band. It was like a Beatles-esque, poppy, '60s pop band [and] we were four. And then we went down
to a trio and started getting into more experimental music - we did electro, kind of noisy, post-rock stuff. And then [Hexes & Ohs] is basically a combination of those two bands: It's like pop and electronic with a small experimental side. And now it's just two of us." "We're now the duo," echoes Donnelly. "We kind of shaved off the other people."
Hexes & Ohs' forthcoming album Bedroom Madness is their first release since their 2005 debut, Goodbye Friend, Hello Lover. Asked if either title finds its roots in their personal relationship, Donnelly gets the subtext, smiles, and then says no.
"It was more about the band," she explains. "Because we went down to a duo, we said goodbye to the friends."
Hexes & Ohs
w/ Politique, Nightwood
@ Zaphod's
Sept. 5
