Hardy Fox (also known as Heart or ♥) is an album by composer and producer Hardy Fox, released on February 14th 2018 by Klanggalerie.[1] A "sparse electronica" album expressing Fox's youthful experiences with sex and love,[2] Heart was recorded quickly over a "three or four month period" after Fox was diagnosed with a heart defect which required him to undergo major surgery.[3]
The self-titled Hardy Fox was Fox's first album to be released under his birth name, after more than forty years with The Residents, and several years of recording under the alias Charles Bobuck; this choice reflected the album's intentionally "personal and revealing" nature.[3]
Following Fox's death from brain cancer on October 30th 2018, Heart was reissued posthumously by Klanggalerie in January 2019 with alternate cover art, and again by Secret Records in April 2019, digitally and in two limited edition vinyl variants, both featuring the album's closing track "Yogurt" on a separate flexi-disc.
History[]
Background[]
"This album is a glimpse into my younger self. Well truthfully, probably not. It is likely yet another fantasy of an aging man, still led around by his dick."
The composer as a young man, visiting Portland, Oregon in 1974; photo by William Reinhardt
Beginning in the late 1960s, composer Hardy Fox had recorded semi-anonymously under the collective umbrella of The Residents, until his retirement from the group in 2016. In 2011, Fox began a prolific schedule of solo releases under the pseudonym Charles Bobuck; Fox retired this alias permanently in October 2017 by revealing, for the first time unambiguously, that he was the person behind the Bobuck persona, and therefore, a member of the hitherto anonymous Residents.
Around this time, Fox was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis, and was told that he would require major open heart surgery in the near future to repair a failing valve. Facing his own mortality, Fox decided he had to "break the pattern [he] had been in for so long", and create "an album The Residents could not record";[3] a "personal and revealing" concept album exploring the composer's "youthful darker sexuality" and "adventures" in love.[3][2]
Recording[]
Hardy Fox, ca. 2018
The album, otherwise known as Heart (in reference to Fox's impending heart surgery), was composed and recorded quickly "with minimal equipment" at a desk in Hardy Fox's home in Marin County, California, over a "three or four month period", as Fox did not want to "obsess over details".[3]
For feedback, Fox worked with a co-producer on the album; his friend Walter Robotka, founder of Austrian record label Klanggalerie, who described the experience as "great fun".[3][4] According to Fox, the album's music was entirely "computer generated", aside from a "little guitar overdub" from Fox's friend and long-time Residents collaborator Nolan Cook. Heart therefore has a "sparse electronica quality",[3] with a more delicate and melodic style than can be heard on much of Fox's previous work under the guises of The Residents and Charles Bobuck.
Already having accepted the minimal recordings being "a bit rough in exchange for being fresh",[3] Fox further "simplified" Heart in its final mix, at the suggestion of his co-producer Robotka. Fox found that the more stripped-back approach was "appropriate for the rawer reality of the material" and obliged, at one point even having to "add music back" to the final mix of the album when Robotka told him he had "gone too far".[3][4]
Release[]
The album was first released on CD by Klanggalerie on February 14th 2018 (Valentine's Day).[1] The album, though commonly referred to as Heart by its composer,[3] was officially released as a self-titled album; it was also Hardy Fox's first solo release under his birth name, after several years of releasing solo material under the alias Charles Bobuck, which itself was directly tied to Fox's forty year history with the ostensibly anonymous Residents. Heart was only the second major release to use Fox's birth name, following the release of the Fred Frith collaboration A Day Hanging Dead Between Heaven and Earth the previous month.
Fox initially struggled with how to credit himself on the album, wishing to distance himself from the "Charles Bobuck, ex-Residents" persona. He initially decided he would record as "Mr. Fox", but this name had already been used by a British folk rock band in the early 1970s.[5][6] Fox ultimately concluded that using anything other than his own name for the project "didn't seem like [he] was being as honest as the project deserved".[3] He later considered that the revealing nature of the album's lyrics may have given fans "too much information", but explained "I recorded it as a personal mirror and now it is done. I doubt I will have a reason to retrace those paths again".[3]
Fox promoted Heart with the second issue of his mailing list newsletter "up", one week before the album's release,[1] and dedicated a section of his official website to the album, featuring the album's lyrics with additional imagery not featured on the CD package. The album was also sold digitally through Fox's official Bandcamp page.
Fox successfully underwent heart surgery in the months following the album's release,[3] however was diagnosed with terminal glioblastoma (or brain cancer) in September 2018, and died one month later. Prior to his death, Fox completed and released two further albums under his birth name, Nachtzug and Rilla Contemplates Love.
In January 2019, the album was posthumously reissued on CD by Klanggalerie with alternative cover art. Heart was reissued again by Wisconsin label Secret Records in April 2019, digitally via Bandcamp and in two hand-numbered limited edition vinyl variants, "yellow and green" and "swamp green and doublemint with purple splatter", both featuring the album's final track "Yogurt" on a separate, "translucent gold" 7" flexi-disc.
Cover art[]
Original release[]
Back cover art from the 2019 Secret Records vinyl LP edition of the album
Hardy Fox was originally released by Klanggalerie on CD in a tri-fold digipack case featuring a green-tinted portrait of a softly smiling Hardy Fox on the cover (likely also reflecting the personal nature of the album's contents), with patches of naturalistic color over his eyes and mouth forming a crude "smiley face".
The inside and back cover art feature blurry, digitally augmented images of bathing and reclining nude young men. The disc art features a digitally manipulated photo of a baby doll's head with numerous, spiralling eyes. This package design was largely replicated for the 2019 Secret Records vinyl edition.
Though the front cover of both the original CD and the Secret Records vinyl release is entirely textless, a variant of the front cover art with the title "Hardy Fox" prominently displayed bottom center was featured in Fox's promotional material for the album, and on the original digital release of the album via Fox's official Bandcamp page.
2019 CD reissue[]
Klanggalerie's 2019 CD reissue of the album (also in a tri-fold digipack) featured a substantially different package design, with a new front cover featuring an apparently computer manipulated image of a hand grasping the inner thigh of a sexless pair of legs; this image was also featured as the heading of Hardy Fox's official website for the album.
The inner tri-fold design features two distorted photographs of male faces kissing; one of these is also featured on the disc. The central panel of the inner tri-fold art is prominently emblazoned with the slogan "KNOW ME in THE DARK". The back cover features the same bathing male graphic as the back cover of the earlier edition, this time in a desaturated, almost monochrome color palette.
Reception[]
Contemporary[]
Detail from the inner tri-fold artwork for the 2019 Klanggalerie CD reissue of Heart
An unattributed review cited by Hardy Fox in the album's promotional material describes Heart as "a stunning departure from the world of The Residents".[1]
Retrospective[]
In a 2021 interview with fan-operated YouTube channel Mr. Riggsy's ResTube, the album's co-producer Walter Robotka called Heart his "all time favorite" Hardy Fox solo release, describing its songs as "the best thing he's ever done... as a solo artist. I think it's absolutely amazing."[7]
Track listing[]
All tracks composed by Hardy Fox.
Original release (2018)[]
- A Song About You (2:09)
- The Bather (2:52)
- Broken Hurt (5:02)
- The Band Plays On (2:05)
- Light Of Day (2:45)
- Mess (2:27)
- Leg (3:04)
- Christ (4:06)
- Rather B U (3:11)
- Name (2:30)
- Talking To You (3:27)
- South (3:25)
- Walks In The Sand (3:26)
- Yogurt (2:31)
Vinyl edition (2019)[]
Side A[]
- A Song About You (2:09)
- The Bather (2:52)
- Broken Hurt (5:02)
- The Band Plays On (2:05)
- Light Of Day (2:45)
- Mess (2:27)
- Leg (3:04)
Side B[]
- Christ (4:06)
- Rather B U (3:11)
- Name (2:30)
- Talking To You (3:27)
- South (3:25)
- Walks In The Sand (3:26)
Side C (flexi-disc)[]
- Yogurt (2:31)
Credits[]
Original release (2018)[]
- All ♥ by Hardy Fox
- Produced by W.Robotka and H.Fox
- Hacienda Bridge Music (BMI)
- Package by H.Fox
- All Rights Reserved
- (c) (p) 2018, Hardy Fox
- www.hardyfox.com
- www.klanggalerie.com
Liner notes[]
Graphic from Hardy Fox's official website for the album
The intensity of love always takes me back to my youth when all was new and strange. Each element that drove sexual exploits had to be explored, considered and digested.
Now older, I turn memories into music.
One from the heart.
See also[]
Buy Or Die![]
External links and references[]
- Official website
- Hardy Fox at Hardy Fox/Bobuck official Bandcamp page
- Hardy Fox at Klanggalerie
- Hardy Fox at Discogs
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hardy Fox, up no. 2, February 7th 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hardy Fox, "One From the Heart", up no. 2, February 7th 2018
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 "Leaving The Residents & New Paths", Musique Machine, May 16th 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "I said to him, you know, 'With a new name, we need a new style, too.' And, uh, Hardy started doing something very electronic, and, um, I said, 'Maybe you should strip it down a bit, because, you know, it still sounds like Charles Bobuck stuff. So he stripped it down, but he stripped it down so much, that I said, 'Um, maybe you should add a bit more.' And, uh, you know, this was the way that we worked together, and it... was just great fun." Walter Robotka (interviewed by Danny Riggs), "Walter Robotka Interview - On Hardy Fox & the Residents", Mr. Riggsy's ResTube via YouTube, January 20th 2021
- ↑ "I remember that, uh, when he worked as Charles Bobuck, you know, this was the time that he came to Vienna... and... we talked for many days about it, and... he was very worried... how people would react if he sort of 'came out' as Hardy Fox, but he was also very fed up with being Charles Bobuck, ex-Residents. So, after a very long process, and a very painful process, he decided to be himself from now on. You know, he announced at a dinner at our place that from now on, he would be recording as 'Mr. Fox'. I even have some cover images for an album by Mr. Fox. But, uh, I think there was, like, a British band or something in the '60s that was called Mr. Fox, so he changed the name from Mr. Fox to Hardy Fox." Walter Robotka (interviewed by Danny Riggs), "Walter Robotka Interview - On Hardy Fox & the Residents", Mr. Riggsy's ResTube via YouTube, January 20th 2021
- ↑ Mr. Fox at Discogs
- ↑ Walter Robotka (interviewed by Danny Riggs), "Walter Robotka Interview - On Hardy Fox & the Residents", Mr. Riggsy's ResTube via YouTube, January 20th 2021