Lovesick Tanagers by hellothisisalex

“All our wolf hours,” the most recent album from hellothisisalex, further elaborates on the duo’s bizarro instrumental electro-pop, layering analog synths with field recordings, disembodied talk radio, bird songs, and conversations about road trips and nightmares.

With a sound described by Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star as “fuzzy analogue tones and jaunty pop beats,” hellothisisalex’s music has grown darker in recent years. For “All our wolf hours,” the duo finalized a number of songs that had been evolving since their previous album, 2013’s “Anniversary.” While recording and mixing songs with titles like “Pick up thy severed head and march!” and “Milk of Amnesia,” they drew inspiration from horror films, tabletop gaming, and the sheer fact of being alive during a global pandemic.

“All our wolf hours” comes at a time of change for hellothisisalex—Melissa Creasey will be stepping away from making music, though Mark Prier plans to continue alone. With this album being the duo’s tenth release, hellothisisalex sought to make “All our wolf hours” a satisfying conclusion to having written music together for over twenty years.