“Fuck that anthems plastered on grimy beats,

constrained verses and dirty guitars.”

 

Neychaʼs The Holy Hell of Hope (HHOH) boldly picks up where she left off after her abrupt hiatus from music in the early 2000s following the homicide of her life partner of 10 years. Fans of Neychaʼs distinct sound will find themselves right at home. The HHOH is full of the same gritty drums, outside-the-box song structure, vocal stylizing, dirty guitars and synths tucked in the crevices found on her critically acclaimed debut album, the dirty side up.

 

The seven songs that make up the HHOH are nuanced audio portraits that highlight the fragility of the human experience, especially the heart-tugging exercise of hoping. Rather than trying to narrate these nuances literally, the album risk your understanding Neycha’s entanglement with hope through subtle manipulations of constrained verses, irregular arrangements, re-purposed 4-track demo guitar riffs and tape feedback as if she were intending for us to feel more intimately the the ups and downs, ins and outs of her journey as they happened - out of order, incomprehensible, messy, intense and disorienting.

 

The album's first single and music video, Iʼm Still Here, offers a snapshot of what Neycha calls ‘monster resilience’.  She explains, “while the album shares the fundamental hopes and disappointments that animate all life, let’s be clear, these are not songs of sorrow. They are instead battle-cries, fuck-that-anthems that Iʼd like to think of as prescriptions for releasing a multitude of sorrows and re-engaging hope.”

 

Indeed, The Holy Hell of Hope stirs, soothes, instigates and ultimately forces us to consider our own relationships with hope and denial.