You ever wonder how much music is out there that’s been written but never actually released to ever be heard? Way too many songs or albums get shelved indefinitely for various reasons, also many artists in preparing a new record will write and put together many more tracks than will end up on the album, leaving the rest to be unheard for better or worse, until a few of them get released under a deluxe edition if anything. You get the point; there is so much music out there that we’re so close to hearing but never will be able to, unless some mysterious force wills some of these songs lost to time into existence. That is the case here today as we at Everything Is Noise are premiering “Human Speech”, a tune written over twenty years ago and never released until now from math rock visionaries, Lynx.

Boston’s Lynx is made up of several members, one of which was a founding member of Battles (one of the bands credited for the birth of math rock way back in the day) and they are set to officially release their self-titled LP that was only released on physical format back in 2000. Considering how niche this abstract type of music is now, I can only imagine it being even more ‘taboo’ twenty plus years ago, so despite being released only on CD then, it is as if it was never released at all, but that changes today! In addition to the release of Lynx, the band are releasing a three-track EP that contains songs also written back alongside Lynx, one of which is the little ditty that we’re premiering, “Human Speech”. You can find more details and specifics on that below:

We recognized this opportunity as the perfect chance to resolve any unfinished business we had with those three unrecorded ‘new’ songs from 1999 and 2000. During the summer of 2021, we referenced audio from decades-old videos of that last tour, relearned how to play all of the respective parts, and recorded the three songs live with Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets. Those three lost tunes — “Human Speech,” “Less Messy,” and “Softly Ultra”— formed the Human Speech EP.’

You can call it a relic of the past despite being released now in 2023, but “Human Speech” is a glimpse at how this style of music came into existence and yet it still holds up with similar music being put out today. If I hadn’t had a decent understanding on the background of the genre and learned about this band (and Battles), I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that this was written twenty-three-plus years ago if I was going in blind today. “Human Speech” is polished for today’s musical standards as a whole (as it was finally properly recorded in 2021) and you can audibly hear the very foundation that this genre is built and further expanded upon. From the start, math/noise rock has always been quite abstract and Lynx is exactly that on “Human Speech”. The minimalistic, repetitive drum rhythm helps develop a steady rhythm that allows the jagged, angular guitars to have the footing necessary to be as abstract as it wants, creating the perfect balance between being musically unorthodox and accessible.

It is always a humbling trip to have blasts from the past like this as it masterfully displays how far music, and more specifically this subgenre, has evolved over time. Lynx are set to officially release Lynx and Human Speech on May 5 through Computer Students™, so if you weren’t one of the lucky ones to be able to snag that physical release back in 2000, now is your chance to make amends as the band is finally dusting off the cobwebs from these songs. If you want to do some more digital surfing, swing by the bands socials (Facebook | Instagram) and give them a follow!

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