"Hades Moon" by Akenya
DV:
As I understand it this is about astrology, but I don't understand astrology and I do understand Greek mythology, so let's start there. It's always felt a bit like revisionism the way that Hades gets turned into a figure of negativity. We watch disney's Hercules movie and he's a catty villain aiming to overthrow his successful brother Zeus, a loving father and husband to his loving wife Hera, when like even the most cursory glance at an actual Greek myth shows both Zeus and Hera to be the worst (but especially Zeus) and Hades to be....also a piece of shit but kinda middle-of-the-pack as Olympians go. Probably not as bad as Athena, probably worse than Hephaestus. On "Hades Moon" Akenya doesn't treat him like a villain, which I appreciate. There's a complexity here, in the way that this will pass but at the same time isn't entirely unwelcome. It's mirrored by the depth in the production, a layered and pleasantly funky beat that reveals more detail the closer you listen. Akenya's vocals are similarly complex, at times backing up the synths and melting into the background, at others playing a part of the percussion, only to leap out for emphasis as a massed whole. Death is a transformation, as she reminds us in the extended outro. Why shouldn't a song invoking Hades adopt a similar approach?
MG:
As a proper dilettante, I know a little bit about both these things, but an internet search really helped. Hades moon -- it's the mother wound! This concept is not only astrology, not only Greek mythology, but also awash in modern psychology. Honestly, quite a feat considering that "Hades Moon," as I hear it, is mostly about surviving a doomed romance. Akenya's work here is as dense and multi-faceted as our complicated attempt at unpacking it might suggest; she touches on generational trauma in the song's opening turns but she also drapes the back half in luxurious, silky vamps that glow with sophistication, like an Hermes scarf placed over a table lamp. She's made something magnificent of her healing, stripping back the often ugly growth process inherent in transformation and revealing the alluring self submerged beneath the pain.
