aya hexed!

Critic's Take

Grant Sharples hears aya as a thrilling sonic alchemist on hexed!, and he repeatedly flags the record's best tracks as the kinetic opener and club-ready high point. From the metallic abrasion of “I am the pipe I hit myself with” to the unrelenting electroclash of “off to the ESSO”, Sharples keeps returning to those moments as evidence of aya's singular craft. He also elevates “peach” as a centerpiece, a line-coiling spell that showcases the album's witchy lyricism and physicalized synthesis. The narrative is clear: these are the best songs on hexed! because they embody its malleable textures, theatrical vocals, and intoxicatingly grotesque charm.

Key Points

• The best song is favored for its combination of physicalized synthesis and relentless club energy.
• The album's core strengths are its malleable, sculpted sound design and theatrical, witchy lyricism.

Themes

Critic's Take

In a voice that is alternately ecstatic and febrile, aya makes hexed! feel like witchcraft - the best songs, notably “the names of Faggot Chav boys” and “I am the pipe I hit myself with”, are brutal, tender, and unflinching. Sasha Geffen’s prose lingers on those tracks because they crystallize aya’s reclamation of pain into furious sound, where yelps and clanks become confession and command. Read as the best tracks on hexed!, these cuts show how sobriety and memory combust into vivid, unnerving pop. The review frames the album’s strength as its willingness to make crisis sing with clarity and bite.

Key Points

• The best song, "the names of Faggot Chav boys," is best because it turns desperate yelps into affecting, discomfiting noise that crystallizes the album’s emotional core.
• The album’s core strengths are its visceral sound design, unflinching engagement with trans experience, and the way crisis is rendered as striking, physical music.

Themes

Critic's Take

In a voice that wobbles between nightmare and wry memoir, Aya's hexed! finds its best tracks in the brutal honesty of “I am the pipe I hit myself with” and the raw, drug-night reportage of “off to the ESSO”. The opener howls with screaming electronics and bass groans while “off to the ESSO” yells scattershot lyrics about slipping back down the slope, making them the standout tracks on hexed!. Elsewhere the body-horror surge of “heat death” and the album's closing, moorland catharsis round out a record that interrogates trauma through violent sound and occasional angelic refrains. This is an album that rewards listeners searching for the best songs on hexed! because its clearest moments are also its most revealing.

Key Points

• The opener “I am the pipe I hit myself with” is best for its vulnerable howl and vivid electronics.
• The album's core strengths are its brutal emotional honesty and fusion of hardcore electronics with rock and body-horror imagery.

Themes

Critic's Take

aya returns with a record that feels sharper and more immediate, and on hexed! the best tracks - notably “hexed!” and “peach” - land as punchy, catchy highlights that push her sound forward. The reviewer leans into aya's move from the darkness of im hole toward something punchier and weirder, celebrating the album's oddball charisma. There is a palpable sense that these songs crystallize her growth, offering both hands-in-the-air hooks and sly experimental turns.

Key Points

• The title track “hexed!” stands out as a centerpiece because the album is described as punchier and catchier.
• The album's core strength is aya's move toward a punchier, catchier, and weirder sound compared with her debut.

Themes

Critic's Take

Aya’s hexed! unflinchingly mines trauma into thrill, with the best songs cutting like exposed wire. The opener “I am the pipe I hit myself with” sets the tone — metallic beats and self-destruction are rendered with claustrophobic clarity. Lead single “off to the ESSO” is one of the best tracks on hexed!, a three-and-a-half-minute hardcore rush that distills the partying cycle into something terrifyingly thrilling. Elsewhere, “heat death” and “Time at the Bar” turn dissolution into high-concept sound design, making these among the standout tracks on the album.

Key Points

• The best song is “off to the ESSO” because it condenses Aya’s partying cycle into a thrilling, brutal three-and-a-half-minute hardcore centerpiece.
• The album’s core strengths are its rigorous sound design and its candid, inventive confrontation of trauma and identity.

Themes

Critic's Take

aya’s hexed! is an unflinching plunge into self-loathing and reinvention, and the best songs - notably “off to the ESSO”, “heat death” and “peach” - crystallise that tension. Patrick Gamble’s prose hangs on aya’s dry Yorkshire wit and bludgeoning beats, praising the record’s abrasive thrust while highlighting its sparse, crushing peaks. The reviewer singles out “off to the ESSO” for its sneering lines and rhythmic bite, and credits “peach” and the title track for haunting codas and subterranean drones. It reads like a catalogue of exorcisms, where the strongest tracks are those that pair jagged production with naked admission.

Key Points

• The best song, “off to the ESSO”, is the most immediate mix of sneering lyricism and corrosive beats.
• The album's core strengths are its abrasive textures paired with sparse, haunting moments that amplify emotional ruin.

Themes