by Eric Bennett (@seething_coast)
Lande Hekt has a lot of questions. On her debut solo album, Going to Hell, the Muncie Girls’ leader fills the space by speaking uncertainties. The album’s lead single, “Whiskey,” is made entirely of questions and finds Hekt asking them over distorted strumming. While none of them get answered, that’s more the point. Hekt doesn’t need to figure everything out, just acknowledge there's something there to ponder. This acts as the sole thread throughout the record. While she may experiment musically, the theme of questioning holds. Hekt is reluctant to tie herself to any one sound, or any one answer.
Going to Hell isn’t our first taste of Hekt’s talent, but it is the first time we’re seeing her in the solo setting. Notably, she played every part on the record save for the percussion. Often, the bandleader’s first solo record suffers from sounding too much like their band, just with different marketing behind it. Hekt, on the other hand, is certainly showing us something new. Throughout her work with Muncie Girls, her voice is often at the forefront. It’s placed high in the mix, her words are clear. That’s why it’s interesting that on her debut as a solo artist, she seems to be more obscured. Her vocals on songs like “80 Days of Rain'' are heavily washed out and distorted, like they’ve been placed behind frosted glass. While Hekt certainly hasn’t abandoned her punk roots, they’re expressed differently here. She’s still making punk music, but now it’s closer to folk-punk. It’s hard to imagine any of her past projects ending with a Billy Bragg-esque political song done simply on acoustic guitar, or for the back half generally to tilt towards balladry.
That's not to say the record does not have any great soaring rock songs. On “Undone,” a cut about mourning a relationship that was mostly imagined, Hekt starts things on a small, plucky guitar, only for it to open into a pulsing beat and huge washes of guitar. Just as she sings that she’s “come undone,” so too does the arrangement, letting the record have its first moment of pure abandon. Few moments feel this free on it, and it makes this one more special.
Going to Hell is the coming-out party that Lande Hekt deserves. Her first record since coming out as gay, she spends its runtime unpacking what years in a heteronormative industry does to a queer artist in respect to repression and self-image. Hekt has said in interviews for a long time she feared coming out because she worried she’d be pigeonholed. This is a common worry among queer artists, and it’s heartening to see someone like Hekt break past it.
Hekt’s songwriting has always succeeded by using hyper-specific examples to convey universal truth. We might not relate exactly to getting a tattoo that says “fuck Jeremy Clarkson, and fuck you too” as she sings on Muncie Girls’ “Jeremy,” but we can all see our personal analog is to that.
It is ultimately good news that this is a strong record, but not groundbreaking. The work here is great, sure, but it’s certainly not the best Hekt has ever done, and instead shows immense growth. Her best work is ahead of her, and we’re all lucky for it.