Ex Hex at the Bowery Ballroom

As a youth, Mary Timony studied viola and played guitar in the jazz band at her school in Washington, D.C. In that city, she later became the vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist in Autoclave. She relocated for college to Boston, Massachusetts, where she formed the band Helium in 1992. Helium disbanded in 1998, whereupon Timony launched a solo career. Timony moved back to D.C. a few years later. In 2005, Timony released her debut solo album, Ex Hex. She formed Pow Wow in 2009, which became Soft Power, and Wild Flag in 2010. After Wild Flag's breakup, Timony formed Ex Hex in 2013 with bassist Betsy Wright (Fire Tapes, Chain & the Gang) and drummer Laura Harris (Benjy Ferree, The Aquarium). Ex Hex took its name from Timony's 2005 album and released an album in 2014. . After about two years of touring that album, Wright formed the group Bat Fangs, Harris joined Death Valley Girls, and Timony reissued Helium albums. The band released its second studio album, It's Real, on March 22, 2019.

Ex Hex appeared at the Bowery Ballroom tonight as a quartet. Drafting a touring bassist, David Christian, allowed Wright to switch to second guitar. This move was so right, evolving the band's former punk economy to a near arena-rock thickness. Drawing from the two Ex Hex albums, many of the songs featured dueling guitars, even with Timony and Wright physically leaning into each other, intertwining their legs as they ripped into extended solos. The energetic set featured light and airy pop vocal melodies and harmonies that contrasted the many jagged, unconventional guitar leads and riffs. The fist-pumping hair-metal power chords remained at the forefront, however. At its core, Ex Hex's performance was rugged garage rock and roll, with mature arrangements lending a somewhat polished gloss to the band's muscular rave-up mainframe.

Setlist:

1. Tough Enough
2. You Fell Apart
3. Radiate
4. Don’t Wanna Lose
5. Want It to Be True
6. How You Got That Girl
7. Rainbow Shiner
8. Diamond Drive
9. Waterfall
10. Another Dimension
11. Cosmic Cave
12. Everywhere

Encore:

1. Radio On
2. Hot and Cold