Pylon Reenactment Society, a new band fronted by Pylon singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay, have announced their debut album. Magnet Factory is out Friday, February 9, 2024, via Strolling Bones Records. The first single from the project, “3 x 3,” is out today along with a music video Tony Brazier and Bill Cody. Watch it below (via BrooklynVegan).
Hay said in a press release that “3 x 3” began as a Pylon song in 1979. “We had fun playing it live, but it didn’t make the cut for [1980’s] Gyrate and fell by the wayside,” she explained. “During subsequent reunions, it sometimes crept back into our set, but was never formally recorded. Pylon Reenactment Society rediscovered it, started playing it live, and have made this bouncy little earworm our own.”
Hay is joined in Pylon Reenactment Society by Casper & the Cookies alumni Jason NeSmith, Kay Stanton, and Gregory Sanders. There’s one guest on Magnet Factory, the B-52’s’ Kate Pierson, who features on “Fix It.”
“I’ve been a B-52’s fan since the first time I saw them, which was their third show,” Hay said. “They were always supportive of Pylon. When I saw their final show in Athens, it struck me that Kate would be perfect for that particular song.”
Jason NeSmith and Vanessa Briscoe Hay produced Magnet Factory, which was recorded and engineered by David Barbe and Tom Ashton. The new album came about after Hay and NeSmith put together 2020’s Pylon Box.
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Magnet Factory:
01 Spiral
02 Educate Me
03 Flowers Everywhere
04 Messenger
05 3 x 3
06 Fix It
07 Boom Boom
08 Heaven (In Your Eyes)
09 No Worries
10 Compression
11 I’ll Let You Know