The Hex, by Richard Swift

The Hex

by Richard Swift

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simon rea An incredible artist. This his final album is for me sees Richard at the top of his game. such a sad loss from a sublime writer , singer, producer.

x

Abe Houck Good Lord, where to begin? One of the god damn best albums I’ve heard in a hundred years.

Nostro Nostalgia tinged in the best possible way - this posthumous release serves as a worthy testament to Swift's undeniable talent. On here he seems to draw upon all his influences, which makes for a diverse set unified by their melancholy nature; if not in sound, then certainly by way of lyrics!
R.I.P.

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Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

Download available in 24-bit/88.2kHz.

$9.99 USD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
1. The Hex on CD
2. Folder poster featuring artwork by Richard Swift (limited to 200)

Includes unlimited streaming of The Hex via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/88.2kHz.

ships out within 5 days

Purchasable with gift card

$12.99 USD
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
1. The Hex on black vinyl
2. Folder poster featuring artwork by Richard Swift (limited to 200)

Includes unlimited streaming of The Hex via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/88.2kHz.

ships out within 5 days

Purchasable with gift card

$18.99 USD
Bundle
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
1. The Hex on black vinyl
2. The Hex on CD
3. Folder poster featuring artwork by Richard Swift
4. Limited edition 18"x24" screen print featuring artwork by Richard Swift, shipped rolled in cardboard tube.
5. Digital download code for the album (containing 320KBPS MP3s) redeemable Sept 21st

Includes unlimited streaming of The Hex via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/88.2kHz.

Sold Out

1.	The Hex 02:25	buy track
2.	Broken Finger Blues 04:20	buy track
3.	Selfishmath 03:16	buy track
4.	Dirty Jim 03:49	buy track
5.	Babylon 03:07	buy track
6.	Wendy 03:11	buy track
7.	Sister Song 02:23	buy track
8.	Nancy 03:48	buy track
9.	HZLWD 04:32	buy track
10.	Kensington! 03:50	buy track
11.	Sept20 02:35	buy track

about

Richard Swift believed in and sought real beauty. And so, even at its most caustic and sardonic, his masterpiece swan song The Hex is beautiful. Conceived in pieces over the last several years and completed just the month before his passing, The Hex is the grand statement Swift acolytes have been a-wishin-and-a-hopin' for all these years.

After a career of sticking some of his finest songs on EPs and 45s, here are all his powers coalescing into a single, long-player statement. At its core, The Hex is an aching call out into the void for Swift’s mother (“Wendy”) and his sister (“Sister Song”) whom he lost in back-to-back years. You hear a man at his lowest and spiritually on his heels. The pain fueling Swift’s cries of “She’s never comin’ back” on the absolutely gutting standout “Nancy” is some sort of dark catharsis for anyone who’s ever lost a loved one to the cold abstraction of Death.

Over a slow, Wall of Sound kick and a warbling synth, Swift’s cries climb higher-n-higher-n-higher into what may be his most devastating vocal performance on record. A cry of pain so real and so raw Swift had to treat the performance with just a little studio effect, without which the recorded grieving might be too much to bear.

The Hex is presented here as “The Hex For Family and Friends.” An obsessive fan of Wall of Sound doo-wop, early Funkadelic, Bo Diddley, Beefheart and Link Wray, Swift gives them all a moment with the flashlight around The Hex campfire, one moment to make a strange shadow-cast face for us, his family and friends.