Hyd
- Teddy Sandler
- May 23, 2023
- 3 min read
Let’s believe, at least for a song, that sound could grow arms, reach out, and make contact. Hyd, the act behind the swirling melodies and angelic vocals of songs like “Skin 2 Skin,” “So Clear,” and “Oil + Honey,” gently asks for an invitation into your subconscious with their music. And with your permission, Hyd’s earworms spread to hold each sense captive with breathlike pulses of tension. Listening to “Trust,” an almost spoken word piece splits as multiple vocals layer each other with slight iterations splashing like waves and brief delays working through the turmoil of broken promises. In “Breaking Ground” the interplay between tempo-ed descending enunciation and smooth ascending whispers pindown the anxiety of new encounters as safety struggles with stagnation.
As a member of PC Music, songs like “The Real You” capture an A.G. Cook-esque nostalgia as the label’s sound moves along a scale akin to pH from an acidic hyperpop (EASYFUN, umru) to a basic electro-trance (felicita, Namasenda). Possibly genre-defying, perhaps its own genre, or maybe a secret third option, PC Music ties itself together in its production through electronic symphonies that layer generated sounds to bring out a whole-body experience akin to club music. It's almost poetic justice that Hayden Frances Dunham, creator of Hyd, dated the electronic music visionary SOPHIE (rip). While their sounds remain distinct, their artistic experimentation brought them together in life, museums, and collaboration, specifically for one of PC Music’s most famous group endeavors, QT.
Hayden, a multimedia artist, acts as the face of QT, an ethereal glittery cyborg promoting an imaginary energy drink. In performances, Hayden lipsyncs infectiously upbeat bubblegum bass sounds as they serenely move to embody the lyrics. A less-known short film (https://vimeo.com/239429968) exists on a password-protected Vimeo page (don’t worry, the password is a simple guess), where QT travels to Japan in search of artists who expand their mediums into multisensory experiences. Hayden’s hand in QT is evident as the project extends from more than a hypercapitalist satire into a futuristic exploration where art isn’t just consumed but experienced with one's whole body. Hayden’s work is a space to explore transformations at the intersection, touch, and collision of bodies when they encounter one another.
As such, maybe the best way to describe Hyd is also through relationality. Whether through their travels to volcanic islands, similar to Bjork’s Icelandic meditations to create the orchestral cacophonies and emotionally wrought cries in Fossora. Or collaboration with Caroline Polachek on a site-specific art show titled PASTE that brought together a synthetic assemblage representing natural forms from hypothetical parallel realities. Hyd pushes on the potential of electronic music similar to SOPHIE’s mechanical generation of environmental soundscapes. The end result contrasts raw vocals with haunting melodies to create natural ballads; shifting disparate percussion with slurring synths to effect elemental motifs.
Before Hyd was a musical act, it named a chlorophyll-based creation of Hayden’s that slowly solidified within a pool made of black rubber and mica at one of their exhibitions. Hyd is the ever-transforming medium that harnesses the energy of its surroundings to produce energy. And Hyd’s music seems to be evolving much the same. During their CLEARING tour, fans could keep up with their newest explorations during the day as they toured factories to explore fabrication. At night, Hyd’s performances were a multisensory masterclass on experiential performance. Their shows were intimate affairs (I got to see them at Co-Prosperity Sphere) where computer-generated silky visuals brought close-up natural scenes reminiscent of beaches, suns, fires, and skies using bold variations of primary colors. As these colors flooded the room, painting the audience's faces, they maintained eye contact and ventured into the crowd, dancing to themself with smooth sensual movements, fearlessly separate but connecting to the crowd as individuals. In their motion, distinctions were erased. Performer/audience, sitting/standing, spotlight/shadow, as subject and object become one.
Hyd’s Chicago concert was before the full release of their freshman LP, which, though not a radical departure from their previous music, was a shift from the grungier sound of their EP. CLEARING’s inclusion of whispy melodies demonstrates Hyd’s adoption of PC Music’s hallmark glitter, adding another artist to the label experimenting with clean bubblegum futurism. However, if “So Clear (umru corrosion)” is any indication along with Hyd’s factory tours, I expect future albums to explore the nature of transformation through toxicity and decay; perhaps transforming some of their raw vocals into harsher layers that would add complexity to their ethereal tracks.
CLEARING is out now on all major streaming platforms. Give a listen :)
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