Vancouver lesbian quartet releases new album Human Nature in August.
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Vancouver band Hyaenas is staking out its place in the Canadian indie scene with its new album Human Nature.
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The indie quartet proves its songwriting prowess with All The Girls. From the opening bass riff, the three-and-a-half minutes of pure bliss exists somewhere alongside the groovy Scandipop of the Cardigans, shoegaze atmospherics of Curve, and such local scene legends as The Organ.
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The growth in the band’s chops and production over 2023’s EP Little Trophy is proof that the buzz around the group, which began right after its explosive debut opening for the Pack AD in 2021, is well earned.
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The group is made up of two married couples — guitarist/vocalist Sophie Foster and drummer Jen Foster, and bassist Jessie Robertson and synth player Luvia Petersen — who all have previous experience with other popular local bands, including the nonbinary rockers Parlour Panther.
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“We’re kind of a pandemic baby band, because we are made up of two married couples who are also very close friends that formed a jam space social bubble during the heights of COVID,” said Jen. “During that time, we were writing our EP and had the opportunity to play our first show ever with The Pack AD, who are our jam space roomies. We’ve been going ever since.”
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Sophie says the group hit upon its sound almost instantly as they all shared similar influences. Spending so much time in the jam space unable to play for anyone during the pandemic also proved a benefit to finding a distinctive style.
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Another thing the band was more than happy to bring into its sound was a healthy serving of harmonies across all the new material. Rather than put the onus on Sophie’s lead vocals exclusively, songs such as Party On jump right into multi-part choruses that chime out like classic ’80s California new wave acts like The Go-Go’s.
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“We are very firmly planted in indie pop and a lot of ’80s synth wave is very near and dear to us,” said Sophie. “It wasn’t intentional to get compared to Garbage and The Go-Go’s, but we’re happy to take it.”
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Combining feel-good choruses and big hooks with often quite raw lyrics looking at the world through a queer lens has worked out very well for Hyaenas. The band has sold out a number of local shows, headlined both the Edge Of The World and Sunshine Music Festival, as well as playing high-profile Canada Pride events such as Pride Night at Rogers Arena.
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The band’s music also turns up in the Netflix series My Life With The Walter Boys.
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Human Nature is being distributed by Vancouver-based Nettwerk. And The Hyaenas are heading out across the province for the first wave of gigs in support of their latest release in August.
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The steady growth and success seems brand-new to outside observers. But Sophie says it comes on the back of a lot of “long slogs” across the country in other musical outfits.
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“Starting a project with your partner is a gamble, but the fact that Jessie and I have been musical partners and a rhythm section-for-hire in a lot of other projects for the past 15 years really helped,” said Sophie. “It kind of makes us a three-couple quartet,”
