You’re gonna want to set aside some time for this one. i Häxa is one of the most ambitious projects I’ve come across. I have no idea where I first heard them, but this record has taken over my life in recent weeks. There is simply so much to see and hear here. Believe me, it’s worth your time. I’m not a big concept album guy, but when it works, it really works.
To describe i Häxa as a cinematic record sells it short: this is an immersive experience. There’s something supernatural here, reflected in both the lyrics and the arrangements. “i häxa” translates from Swedish to “the witch”, and these songs seem to be a mythical story of order vs. chaos, from the perspective of a witch or something like it. It’s the story of the love child of Edgar Allan Poe and Angela Carter, soundtracked by Trent Reznor. Or the antithesis to Enigma’s MCMXD A.D. concept album.
i Häxa is, at its core, two people: singer Rebecca Need-Menear & producer Peter Miles. The album was released in instalments in 2024 – in February, May, August and November — four individual releases, each consisting four tracks and about 15 minutes, each thematically and stylistically distinct. It’s consuming and awe-inspiring stuff that crosses boundaries of genre and theme. I’ve never heard anything like it.
Part One feels like it’s going to erupt into a Scandinavian metal record any second. There are a dozen ideas clashing into each other, keeping the listener off-balance: droning strings and synths get interrupted by noisy, distorted electronic drums, minor-key sung vocals turn to an anxious and claustrophobic spoken-word segment, and the whole thing collapses into a gentle piano piece in a moment reminiscent of the last seconds of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer“.
To accompany the launch, i Häxa released video for the whole EP:
Part Two is orchestral and full of strings with occasional breaks into sinister, discordant noise. Perhaps the centrepiece of the whole project, “The Well” sees Need-Menear go full diva. Soaring, heart-stopping vocals fall apart into the grimy, distorted spoken-word “Fog of War”, which features a tortured screaming and a cliffhanger for Part Three. And there’s a stunning video of a full band performing it. This is incredible:
Part Three has a couple of standalone bangers on it. “Dryland” features a long intro that leads into something like an orchestral update of “Spin Spin Sugar“. “Destroy Everything” (up top) is the closest this project gets to a single, fusing a block-rockin’ beat with a tense vocal and some Blair Witch visuals in a towering climax.
Part Four is the unifier – songs call back to earlier moments, elements are remixed and blended into new ideas, and concludes with a simple and lovely piano-and-strings ballad:
I’ve probably listened to this record 15 times in putting this post together, and it’s richer with every listen. There’s a bonkers special edition vinyl of this thing that I have almost impulse-purchased a half dozen times (include a DVD with the videos and it’d be near impossible to resist, even with the terrible CAD exchange rate).
i Häxa is an incredible, unforgettable piece of art that it’s a mistake to miss. Even if the idea of an epic story of a witch isn’t your thing (and it certainly isn’t usually mine), the ambition and vision of i Häxa is rare in the age of streaming. To see it accomplished so successfully is a credit to the artists, the record label and everyone involved.
