Hyd is an American singer, performance artist, and DJ, born Hayden Dunham.
Signed to PC Music, they first rose to prominence as QT, a collaborative music and performance art project with A. G. Cook and the late SOPHIE. They have since gone on to collaborate with some of our other favorite pop icons including Caroline Polachek, Danny L Harle, and Easyfun/Finn Keane,
Favorite song from the album so far is Angel, but looking forward to some of the post-humous SOPHIE tracks. The demo for Makeover (from SOPHIE) has been out there, and I can see it fitting the sonic profile of this new effort.
I thought it kind of sounded like Caroline Polachek nachos! Will be interesting to see how this album goes. I thought Angel was a surprising turn. (Production from Sophie’s brother Benny and Hudson Mohawke!) I didn’t really pay much attention to her music in the grand scheme of the PC Music crew but enjoyed her when I saw her open for Hannah Diamond in 2024 (although it somehow feels much longer ago…)
I feel like a majority of Hyd’s releases have been literal Caroline demos. I know Caroline was really involved with Clearing.
Hoping the rest of the album is as distinct as Angel, because I had the same response as you! I’ve already got Caroline Polachek at home, I (surprisingly) don’t want another.
Oh the way this album has me crying and bopping and crying and bopping. Peak aquarius music. Hyd as a musical project has felt confusing at some junctures but I’m really pleased at what feels like a culmination of her sound with such ease, in contrast to the cautiously constructed early tracks. What a moment for her artistic self-realization to come as an outpouring of tributes to a lost friend and lover.
I have a weird relationship to the subject matter as it often feels either too heavy or performative or just plain sad. My Sophie tattoo is by far the most commented upon of all my tattoos which is… I don’t know, I’m sure it’s always strange to see an artist proliferate postmortem, be released into an abstract legacy, but there’s a quality of naked truth to this album that feels so pure and important amidst all that chatter.
It’s late and I’m a bit stoned so I’ll have better things to say later but album is momentous and deserves everything. @andyfrench@mindtrappa assemble!!
Much prefer this album to her debut. I also never thought I would see the day Makeover and Make Me Believe would be released officially, so it’s making me quite emo listening to them. Now I just need her to add It’ll Never Happen and Keep Me Safe to a deluxe, and 2016 me will be feel complete.
I haven’t played Clearing all that much, so it’s hard to say whether I prefer one or the other, but I’m really loving this. And I know it’s mostly due to the SOPHIE connection, but the overall sound reminds me so much of the Sfire stuff.
Thanks for starting this thread! I’ve listened to Hyd’s new album. It made me feel very emotional for reasons I don’t rightly know how to explain so I need to listen to Hold Onto Me Infinity more times. I was unaware of Hyd’s previous releases under a different name, and I’m glad I now know about those releases.
Makeover serving as the focal point of this album, at once symbolizing Hyd’s relationship with her late friend but also her own state following her friend’s passing while also being a bop ass collaboration between the two phew that’s ART baby!!
I feel like the album tells a more or less chronological story and Makeover being right in the center and serving as the song symbolizing Sophie’s passing into the next realm via the most jubilant track of the bunch… full body chills.
