Single review: Lande Hekt/Romantic

Although now based in Bristol, it seems a fitting place to start this website with a review of a track from Lande Hekt, the vocalist in perhaps the most notable band to emerge from Exeter in recent year, Muncie Girls.

Hekt has forged a promising solo career indeed since the release of Gigantic Disappointment at the back end of 2019. The chosen title for that 7-track affair long player probably seemed an understatement once events of 2020 and 2021 unfolded, so it may have been with grim earnestness that Hekt’s official debut long-player broke cover under the moniker Going to Hell. That said, the album was as much an exploration of the artist’s personal battle in coming out as gay as it was of the wider political and social meltdown we were all facing. Either way, it was a screamingly good record, with opening track Whiskey really laying down a marker. Released on Pennsylvania’s – the US version, not Exeter’s – Get Better Records, Hekt spoke eloquently about the background to the recording across a range of interviews.

Now comes Romantic, the A side of a single that was released in May and which is therefore being reviewed slightly belatedly here (hell, we only started the blog yesterday). It’s a fitting next staging post in the singer’s career, all chiming, interconnected guitars, underlying Hekt’s super strong vocals. The touchstones are many – Sleater-Kinney perhaps most obviously, but also the Raincoats, the Breeders, Belly, fellow west country musician PJ Harvey and Juliana Hatfield. In that, Hekt, who does almost everything on the record save for assistance from Fabian Prynn on percussion, very much conjures up the ghosts of early 90s alt-culture. I was whisked back to an era of Douglas Coupland books, Winona Ryder movies and bulky plaid shirts.

On the B side, it’s the choice of The Wedding Present’s 1991 track, Octopussy that really drives this mood home. Originally appearing on the Leeds band’s LP Seamonsters, and produced by Steve Albini, it marked a move away from the group’s indie roots to a more American-influenced sound. Hekt’s version, which previously saw the light of day on the most recent iteration of Rough Trade’s always unmissable Counter Culture double CD compilation is absolutely outstanding – a soaring, melodic rendition that adds something over and beyond David Gedge’s trademark gruffness.

Hekt appears alongside the Popguns at the Cavern Club in Exeter on July 24, in advance of an intriguingly extensive Canadian tour. Buy (yes, do buy rather than stream) the track at its Bandcamp page while Hekt can be followed on Twitter here.