Lande Hekt

As frontwoman for Muncie Girls, the Exeter-based outfit that folds punk urgency into indie-rock arrangements, Lande Hekt turns to more personal solo work whose melodies carry gentler contours. After completing two band albums she issued her first proper solo long-player, Going to Hell, in January 2021.

Hekt formed Muncie Girls in 2010 alongside guitarist Dean McMullen and drummer Sam De Wolf; all three were teenagers immersed in the local D.I.Y. punk community. The trio’s earliest recording appeared at the close of 2011 as a three-song self-titled cassette on What We Should Be Doing!. Luke Ellis soon took over on drums, and the new lineup cut the 2012 EP Revolution Summer. Released by the Exeter punk imprint Specialist Subject, the EP earned regular rotation on BBC Radio 1. Although relentless touring across Britain and Europe curtailed further studio time, the band managed to put out the Sleepless EP in 2013 and a split EP with Great Cynics in early 2014; another split, this time with German punk act Sandlotkids, followed in 2015. While Hekt balanced commitments to multiple projects and launched School of Frock—an educational workshop aimed at encouraging young women to form bands and learn instruments—the group reconvened in the studio at the start of 2015 to begin work on its debut album.

Specialist Subject issued that album, the politically charged From Caplan to Belsize, in March 2016; its title borrowed a phrase from Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. The record drew strong notices, including a rare five-out-of-five score from Kerrang!. International editions soon broadened the band’s reach beyond England, and in 2018 Muncie Girls returned with Fixed Ideals, produced by Lewis Johns. That title, another nod to Plath, originates in her sonnet “To Eva.”

Hekt next entered the studio with engineer Ben David to document her first solo recordings; the resulting EP Gigantic Disappointment appeared in late 2019. Partly shaped by her decision to come out as gay, the full-length Going to Hell—also produced by David—was released in January 2021 on Get Better Records, with Hekt performing every instrument except percussion, which David supplied.