Brooklyn’s Hypoluxo almost didn’t make it. Members of the Brooklyn-based quartet have been playing together in some form since their teens but their experience with the music industry could have broken a less tenacious group. Young and impressionable they signed an opaque deal that left them at the whim of a label with no interest in transparency or care for their releases. Many bands have broken up, fallen apart and moved on from lesser struggles but the frustration born from this experience crystallized into an aggressive and urgent new single with “Ridden”, out today on Terrible Records’ Flexible. Eschewing the dream pop of their previous work “Ridden” hits immediately with lead guitarist Cameron Riordan’s angular post-punk lines whirling over the unrelenting rhythm section of drummer Marco Ocampo and bassist Eric Jaso while lead singer Samuel Cogen’s emotion packed vocals, replete with distinct yelps and near-screams, grab you by the collar and refuse to let go.

With help from San Fermin’s Allen Tate, the new single exudes a charismatic charm that belies the surreptitious despondency that runs through Hypoluxo’s new material. Showing this off with their entrancing brand of intricate post-punk, “Ridden”, delves into the band’s near dissolution, while their jaded lyrics are cut by Riordan’s fluttering guitar work through the chorus while Ocampo’s frenetic beats are perfectly complemented by Jaso’s driving bass line. It’s not all doom, though, as “Ridden” concludes and Cogen leaves a glimmer of hope with the repetition of  “I feel Im stronger than that / I feel Im better than that”. Speaking to the single, and experience with their old label, Cogen says;

“This song was written when we really didn’t know if the band would survive. Our label at the time pretty much disappeared, and we weren’t sure where to go from there. We thought we’d just disband Hypoluxo and then we met Allen Tate who pushed us to keep going. During this time I was pretty depressed and had no idea what was going to happen but all I knew is that we wanted to keep making music. Ridden is an ode to me having to get out of my house and continuing the creative process from this place of dejection and despondency.“