Hello Mary

"Hello Mary finds release through pummelling noise… There’s an appealing interplay between quiet and loud on ‘0%,’ and the delicate guitar work that precedes them make the drummer/vocalist Stella Wave’s primal screams hit that much harder." - New York Times 

"sharp and self-assured”  - Rolling Stone

"the return of Hello Mary is less a song, and more like a artful succession of moods – exquisitely crafted and bound together with playfulness and carnage." - So Young

"distorted guitars and pulsating punky drums, dipping further into the grunge pool they waded in on Hello Mary. “0%” is a rage-fuelled release …kicking off their new era with a fiery howl. I couldn’t be more stoked to see where they’re headed next." - Paste Magazine 

"They're one of the coolest acts to come out of NYC in recent years…(Hello Mary) will help to reaffirm that not only are the kids all right, but the state of rock is all right, too." - Alternative Press 

"By day, quiet college students; by night, legitimate rock stars ready to take on the world." - The Big Takeover

"Still in their late teens and early 20s, the Brooklyn-raised women of Hello Mary evoke the sound and attitude of classic ’90s-era alternative and indie rock"  - TIDAL “Rising Artists of 2023” 

On the 13th of September, New York City’s Hello Mary will release their new album Emita Ox via Frenchkiss Records. Possessing a sound that pushes harder into heavy distortion, and psychedelic dreamscapes, the new LP sees Hello Mary building out their singular universe of gutsy, virtuosic alt-rock. The band co-produced the album alongside Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Indigo De Souza, Wednesday, Snail Mail) in Asheville, NC.

Today, they tease the LP with the release of new single “Down My Life” which the band’s Helena Straight says she wrote after “one of the saddest experiences” of her life.  The song features her angelic vocals on top of warped piano and menacing bass. Straight adds, "Down My Life is possibly the most lyrically powerful song for me on the record. The lyrics are somewhat vague, so the meaning behind it is not totally obvious to the listener, which is how I’d like it to be considering the state I was in when I wrote it."

Hello Mary is the trio of Straight, Stella Wave, and Mikaela Oppenheimer.  They previously shared “Three,” and “0%” which have drawn attention from, among others, The New York Times, The Line of Best Fit, So Young,  Rolling Stone, and Paste. Emita Ox is the follow-up to the band’s acclaimed 2023 self-titled LP, which Rolling Stone called one of the year’s "sharpest, noisiest debuts". Since its release the band have ripped into prominence with their fuzzed-out anthems, establishing a darkly playful edge all their own.

Hello Mary will be playing songs from Emita Ox and other fan favourites as they hit the road in support of the new album. Later this month the band head to the UK for two headline shows in London a sold-out date at Brixton's Windmill on the 5th of September, and a newly announced show at the Shacklewell Arms on the 4th of September. These shows will be followed by a run as the support for American Football. Hello Mary have also announced an Autumn of North America tour with dates kicking off in October in Seattle, WA and concluding November in Houston, TX. Additionally, the band is confirmed for Las Vegas’ Best Friends Forever Fest on the 11th - 13th of October and Austin’s Levitation Festival on the 3rd of November. 

All shows are listed below and tickets are available here. 

On Emita Ox, Hello Mary push harder into heavy distortion and psychedelic dreamscapes, as they build out their singular universe of gutsy strain of rock. The LP’s labyrinthine production reflects how the band’s musical tastes have expanded from Elliott Smith and Radiohead to encompass experimental post-rock acts like Black Midi and Swans. “This album encompasses a lot of our inspirations,” says Oppenheimer. “It also shows what we're like as a trio, collectively.” 

The project reveals the band levelling up as musicians and composers. Recorded in early 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina, the band played all the instruments on Emita Ox and produced it alongside Alex Farrar (Indigo De Souza, Wednesday, Snail Mail). The member’s contributions to the songwriting and production bleed into each other, but the album is a showcase of their individual strengths: Straight’s ethereal vocal melodies and gritty guitar riffs, Wave’s emotive vocals and knotty drum patterns, and Oppenheimer’s diabolical basslines and experimentation with electronic production. “We map out all the sections beforehand, we like to write intricate parts that complement each other,” says Wave. 

Featuring songs that span from 2018 to 2023, Emita Ox is also a document of Hello Mary’s past five years together growing up as bandmates and their arrival into young adulthood. First meeting as teenagers in 2019, the band became fast friends through the pandemic—a global crisis that made coming of age feel even more weighty and complicated. “This album represents a period of time that’s very meaningful to us. The songs are related to things that we all know about, even if it’s not out on the table for everyone else,” Wave explains. “The song writing and recording process was a very heavy time that I will never forget.” Even if the lyrics touch on serious topics, the band maintains a core sense of play and exploration: jamming is their way of working through these feelings in a way that’s “easy and fun,” Straight says.

Created amid these emotions of frustration and camaraderie, Emita Ox sees Hello Mary ruthlessly diving into a thrilling sound of catharsis. On “0%,” Wave launches into piercing screams for the first time. Oppenheimer says that her bandmate’s intense shrieks “makes the song full of energy and really exciting to play,” especially in the song’s breakdown which ends in a cacophony of noise and vibraphone. Meanwhile, “Down My Life,” which Straight says she wrote after “one of the saddest experiences” of her life, features her angelic vocals on top of warped piano and menacing bass. The band even veers towards prog-rock on songs like “Footstep Misstep,” where complex instrumentation and Wave’s dynamic vocals evoke a world in between fantasy and nightmare.

The LP’s title, Emita Ox, is referenced in “Three,” whose lyrics sound plucked from a fairy tale. “‘Three’ was written after I’d been in a creative rut that lasted a couple months,” says Straight. “I wasn’t focused on getting any message across. My intention was just to write a full song, whether I ended up liking it or not." Though it doesn’t have an intended meaning, the imagery of the girl Emita and her ox is fitting for the band: Oxes are strong and resilient, and much of Emita Ox’s subject matter reveals Hello Mary’s perseverance, as they choose to move through life’s burdens instead of getting beaten down by them. But oxes are also dependable—much like how they see each other and their relationship. “There’s the lyric that goes, ‘Woke to the hands of three/Stitching and fixing me,’” Wave says to Straight, quoting her own words back to her. “I always picture me and Mikaela with you.” It’s a testament to how they’ve witnessed each other’s heartaches and mended each other back up—through their music and their friendship.