The Mae Shi Are Dead. Long Live HLLLYH

Rambunctious rockers the Mae Shi haven’t released a record since 2007’s HLLLYH, the California art punk collective’s most linear and acclaimed album. Following that, the group went on an extended hiatus so the members could focus on other musical projects, reforming only for a handful of one-off shows in the time since. The Mae Shi may never release another album.

However, founding member Tim Byron pitched making one last record in 2022. Based on 20th century mysticism, the album would tell a hero’s journey through a cycle of songs. But rather than release URUBURU (June 17) under the Mae Shi moniker, the band decided to use the name HLLLYH, signaling not only a rebirth but a new chapter. What was once considered a coda could now be the start of even more music.

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Featuring original members Jeff Byron, Ezra Buchla, Brad Breeck, and Corey Fogel, this iteration of the band also brings in new members Dan Chao, James Baker, and Burt Hashiguchi. Longtime fans of the Mae Shi know what to expect: call and response hollering, lyrics that explore heady topics from mortality to faith, glistening synth lines and, as the band calls its percussion, “spastic drumming.” 

“We’re not special, we’re just what’s left,” goes the chorus on lead single “Dead Clade.” And in many ways, this sentiment serves as a mission statement for HLLLYH and this new record. Contemporaries such as Abe Vigoda, GoGoGo Airheart, and Point Line Plane haven’t made music in more than a decade. But as we slip into another period just as gloomy as the post-9/11 milieu, there is a need for energetic, topical, off-kilter rock once again. 

Though URUBURU may be more subdued in spots than prior Mae Shi albums, an infectious energy carries through the album’s 15 tracks. Lyrically, the band describes the album as “an end-of-the-world story written on a mobius strip,” and fans can spend hours decoding some of the more arcane lines here. For others, the “way oh, way oh way oh, way oh,” of “Evolver” is plenty enough to sing along with.

Much of the record traces back to old ideas percolating since the ’00s. “Flex It, Tagger,” which targets the surveillance state and police brutality, has been in the works since 2009 and celebrates the power found in the multitude of a crowd. Not everything sounds like the Mae Shi, though. “S.O.S.O.S.O.S.” is a draggy, day-after-the-apocalypse affair that burrows into your brain while final track “I’m Glad You’re Alive” could be at home on a Fountains of Wayne record. 

Eighteen years after their final Mae Shi release, it’s good to have HLLLYH back and making music. There may not be anything as immediately catchy as “Run to Your Grave,” but this densely packed collection of new songs is a welcome re-entry for a band with a seemingly endless supply of energy, something we all need in a moment where it is easy to feel all hope is lost.

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