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album preview from The Independent Weekly (NC), 05.26.04

New Hex
Regina Hexaphone ready to roll

B Y C H R I S T O E N E S

The little bit country, little bit rock 'n' roll Regina Hexaphone have a new CD in the can, titled The Beautiful World. Look for brand new songs, and some shiny new versions of old favorites, from original members Sara Bell (who also plays in Shark Quest ), Chris Clemmons (The Management), Jerry Kee (The Feebles, recordist extraordinaire) and Margaret White (North Elementary, Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, Sparklehorse, et al.). New keyboard player Nathan Brown appears on one track (he also plays with Laramie UK—these folks are busy!). Their guest list for this record is dandy as well, with Polvo's Ash Bowie, Varnaline main man Anders Parker, their own former drummer and Carbines member Zeke Hutchins, the ubiquitous Chris Eubank and Raleigh musician Julie Oliver. Look for it June 1, with a string of CD release shows in the area.

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show preview from The Independent Weekly (NC), 06.06.04

Regina Hexaphone, The Moaners
Sunday, June 6, Sadlack's

In case you're wondering, the hexaphone was a type of coin-operated phonograph manufactured by the Regina Company from Rahway, New Jersey. That's cool enough as it is, but you have to suspect that the members of local indie-folk-rock band Regina Hexaphone were keying on the first syllable of the second word when they chose the name. Multi-instrumentalist and lead vocalist Sara Bell, bassist Chris Clemmons, violinist Margaret White, and drummer Jerry Kee—a talented, well-traveled lot—make music that's nothing if not bewitching. Their new The Beautiful World is lush without being sugary sweet, pretty without hitting you over the head with it. The Moaners is a Melissa Swingle side project that finds her checking out of the trailer and into a garage. The show starts at 6 p.m.. —Rick Cornell

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album review from The Independent Weekly (NC), 06.09.04

The Beautiful World
Regina Hexaphone
(Erie Recordings)
By Chris Parker

Inviting and suffused with a supple grace and beauty, Regina Hexaphone's debut album is a rich, sonorous excursion through gentle, loping melodies guided by Sara Bell's dreamy vocals.

Bell's a terrific musician who also exercises her chops in the instrumental outfit Sharkquest, and her playing—whether it be piano, guitar, mandolin or organ—keys the album's warm textures. Equally as important is Margaret White, whose violin offers a lot of sonic color, alternating between a mournful country crawl ("Highway 65," "40 Days") and expansive, elegiac numbers ("Bright Falling Stars," "Ethan's Dreams") reminiscent in their haunting melancholy tone of Dirty Three violinist Warren Ellis. The Beautiful World has nary a soft spot, unless you're talking about the place it makes in your heart, and there's a variety of flavors across the album from the light, jazzy skronk of "Cicadas" to the blooming, organ-fueled summer hues of "Hero Wings" to the reflective, folk-tinged charms of album-opening highlight, "The Seahorse and the Sand Dune."

It may have taken seven years for them to release this album, but it won't take ten minutes for listeners to be seduced by this album's sophisticated allure.