The Fat Angel Sings

With warm, memorable riffs and idyllic lyrics “Mars,” is the lead-off track from Hello June’s self-titled debut. dreams aren’t always as they seem, and Hello June’s Sarah Rudy, assumes, almost grimly, “that there’s so much more than we know / that there’s so much more to fear.” Vocalist/guitarist Rudy and drummer Whit Alexander, who met in their shared apartment building in Morgantown, W.V., don’t tarry on their very first album—within the first few bars of “Mars,” they already appear as a poised musical force. Like The Cranberries and other heroes of sweeping ‘90s guitar rock, Hello June are adept at drawing maximum emotion from just a few simple riffs. They manage to make vast, planetary ponderings feel like a devoted promise: “As soon as you hear / that there’s life up on Mars / that there’s more out there,” Rudy sings. “I’ll catch a plane / Or I’ll walk there. It’s a glorious bygone era of alt-rock and romantic comedies, the blustery twinkle of Hello June offers up eight autumn anthems. But while the romantic comedy may be dead, indie rock sure isn’t.

“Mars seems hopeful—optimistic in a way that is neither saccharine nor cloying. Rudy does not ignore suffering in her songwriting, but, in “Mars,” she is lifted by a resilient buoyancy that is as contagious as it is sincere.”

Hello June were recently announced as an NPR’s SlingShot artist of 2018. “Dance” was also previously featured on NPR’s “Heavy Rotation,”list  along with other acts including Jason Isbell, Black Lips, and Phoebe Hunt & the Gatherers. “Dance” has been dubbed “contemplative and multi-layered,” as well as, “shimmery, bright, and blissful rock” by the NPR Mountain Stage producers. The band’s sound has said to have underpinnings of Jason Molina, Beach House, Real Estate, and Modest Mouse. “Spruce,” Hello June’s first full length EP came out June 1st, 2017 and can be ordered at Hello June’s bandcamp page.