Ex Hex, EZTV and E played Great Scott – 9/8

Mary Timony’s Ex Hex headlined a sold-out Great Scott on Saturday night with support from New York’s EZTV and Boston’s E. 

That’s a whole lot of the letter “E” on one bill. Ex Hex – the latest project from Mary Timony of Helium and the tragically short-lived supergroup Wild Flag – released its debut on Merge Records back in 2014, but this year finds the power trio at work on a follow-up. Timony, bassist Betsy Wright and drummer Laura Harris offered up some of those new songs, true to their distinctive power-pop style, to a sell-out crowd along with favorites from Rips. 

Brooklyn’s EZTV charmed with a set of breezy, jangly indie pop, but the inventively intense E couldn’t help but steal the show in the opening slot. The esteemed trio of Thalia Zedek, Jason Sanford and Gavin McCarthy released their second LP for Chicago’s Thrill Jockey Records in May, and Negative Work is an excellent refinement of everything that made the project so intriguing in the first place. Their dark, rhythmic post-punk spin sounded totally arresting on Saturday night.

Check out photos of all three bands below.