Hyd
Grounded simultaneously in the dirt and extraterrestrial, Hyd is the pop-star persona of the multimedia artist Hayden Dunham. Adopting the allure of trendsetters like David Bowie’s persona Ziggy Stardust, Hyd drifts through the audience of most of their shows, head held high with the confidence and tenacity of a performance artist, bringing the audience ever closer to their world and pulsating with living light. The set design during their last two Chicago shows at Sleeping Village and Co-Prosperity Sphere made for a fully immersive audiovisual experience, with each song opening adjacent portals. At the call of Hyd’s scattered lyrics, the melodies take new shapes, flying between high and low registers; it’s clear they are finally stepping into their authentic self. Their sophomore album, “Hold Onto Me Infinity,” is out May 22, less than a week before their Chicago return to Sleeping Village on May 28.
Hyd has always been integral to PC Music, even if their own projects percolated on the tail end of the label’s existence. The face of Hey QT, a fictitious futuristic energy drink ambassador, Dunham starred in an accompanying music video for the project, but only released their own first EP in 2021. This followed the death of the late great electronic producer Sophie, who deeply impacted their life and work. To this day, Dunham champions Sophie Xeon’s legacy, choosing to dedicate their concurrent art gallery to her and other pioneers who expanded the cultural and political access for gender-diverse people and those at the margins.
Hyd’s musical journey is nothing but joyous. Their self-titled first EP, more stripped back, features whispers and filters that hold their poetic vocals between spoken word and pop anthem. Genre-bending, each song fits just as comfortably within trip hop and post-industrial as their singer-songwriter-forward tracks, which contort around personified verses that harmonize and tense in slight dissonance with multiple lyrical layers. Their debut full-length album “Clearing” brought Hyd in an even dreamier direction. It’s a heartfelt album that seems to stretch along the skin in plastic textures that wrinkle like a film, under the heat of carefully selected accompanying instruments and electronic beats. The album felt like an incantation, after which they disappeared to focus on their artistic practice for almost four years. Last week, they broke their musical silence with their most major work yet.
Hyd’s “Hold Onto Me Infinity” cover
“Hold Onto Me Infinity,” released in conjunction with their solo exhibition “Never Is Over” at Company Gallery in New York City, is nothing but striking. Mirroring the show’s dark presentation, where each piece, ranging from sculpture to video to installation, is spotlit, the songs are unique incantations that imagine a whole new world. In “Grounded,” Hyd sings “oil-stained shirt denim defeat/grounded, uh-huh/ head on your chest, hear your heartbeat,” closing the song in an open-ended invitation to keep on thumping, while the metallic claps and slow bass whirl into the accompanying bird chirps like a cherry popping crescendo. “Makeover” is an instant boom-clap queer classic, and “Make Me Believe” rides even further, repeating its lyrics to reinforce the dizzying delusion that love creates. The softer songs do not relax, but leave listeners with a contemplative stillness in the space filled by star-crossed soulmates.
Hayden Dunham is a transcendental artist who continues to offer emotive masterpieces that range in intensity for every flavor of freak. Their latest album, shaped with the aid of brilliant electronic producers, is just one step forward as they process their feelings through art like a journal, with one chapter flowing into the next. Whatever path they take next, expect their retelling to show the many brilliant contours of life’s trials and triumphs.
Hyd plays at Sleeping Village, 3734 West Belmont, on May 28. Tickets available here.
