Hexa — Factory Photographs

To be honest, when I first got wind of Factory Photographs, I knew it wouldn’t take much convincing that this was something I needed to hear. I love David Lynch and I mostly like Xiu Xiu, so on paper this sounded like something right up my alley. For those unfamiliar, Factory Photographs by Hexa, available as a digital download and LP on Room44, is essentially a soundtrack to the artwork of David Lynch.

Back in 2015 the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art presented David Lynch: Between Two Worlds, a retrospective of Lynch’s sculpture, painting, installation and photography. In celebration, a number commissions of coincided with the event. One of those commissions is Hexa’s Factory Photographs, inspired by Lynch’s photographs exploring the passing of the industrial age. Hexa is Jamie Stewart, founding member of the noise pop unit Xiu Xiu and Lawrence English (Room40 label owner).

Sonically, Factory Photographs is dense slab of shop floor ambience and electro acoustic exploration. 10 tracks live up to the theme at hand. Dense, atmospheric drone collides with machinery humming, gears turning, the sounds of metal clanging. Each track is a variation on the sounds of a factory. It’s not too dissimilar from something you might find on the Eraserhead soundtrack.

If the sounds of a factory in decay or a David Lynchian film score is your cup of tea, look no further than Factory Photographs.