March 6, 2020 - Inspired by an era of Elvis and The Beach Boys tracks, HOAX wrote their latest single “more than you know” with the intention of an indie-pop waltz feel to mix both classic and current sounds, creating a “modern vintage” balance. “more than you know” is the band’s first release in 2020 following their 2019 singles - “Could”, “Unamerican Dream”, “You Get So Alone Sometimes”, and “unconditional” - all which will be part of the band’s debut album, b? (part i), slated to release in August 2020. According to Mike Raj, the frontman and lead vocalist of HOAX, “more than you know” explores the dichotomies between modern dating app romances and traditional arranged marriages.
“‘more than you know’ is about the unspoken acknowledgements, understandings, and sacrifices in love over the readily observable and easily said aspects. The initial inspiration for the lyrics stemmed from exploring the parallels between my parents’ traditional arranged marriage — where your parents find you a best match — and modern dating app romances — where an algorithm finds you a best match. Growing up on cartoons and shows where marriage is glamorized as the result of passionate love, I was almost embarrassed about my parents' marriage. They obviously had a choice in the matter, but it was based more so on blind trust in their parents’ intuitions.”
-Mike Raj (frontman/lead vocalist of HOAX)
b? is a two-part concept album that follows the narratives of multiple characters who have been thrown together in the aftermath of an alien intervention due to unchecked climate change from constant human abuse of the planet Earth. Each song is written from these characters’ points of views of this world, exploring the abstract concepts of “BEING” in direct opposition to the obsession with “DOING” which in their opinion, has destroyed the planet. This dichotomy of BEING vs. DOING is highlighted through careful lyrical content, written prose and visuals that combine to make a mixed-media album. The first part of b? is slated to release in late summer 2020.
Unlike any modern artist today, HOAX cannot be boxed into any singular genre and rather, they create music that is an amalgamation of many different mediums and inspirations. The modern-vintage band has managed to create a soundscape that lives somewhere between the nostalgic familiar, and a lane all to their own. Mike Raj expands on the concepts behind “more than you know” below:
“I’ve recently been obsessing over the idea of algorithms, especially modern romances that propelled from dating apps. We would put trust into an algorithm that finds us matches based on different factors of convenience. You can trust in a computational programmed algorithm to find your perfect match — very much like how my parents trusted an analog version of an algorithm (aka my grandparents) to find a spouse.
A lot of the conceptual story of our debut album, b?, is about people trying to develop an algorithm to simulate the human condition. Looking back now on my parents' 25+ years of marriage, to think it was founded in an arrangement between my grandparents seems almost improbable. I think that is also a testament to how love can be expressed nonverbally and in many different ways. When love is formed in passionate youth, words might come easier in expressing that love. But on the other hand, love that has been gently groomed and watered to blossom by shared experience, lows and highs, sacrifice and pain - those words might come a little slower, even if they are undoubtedly felt and understood. That is what this song is about.”
-Mike Raj (frontman/lead vocalist of HOAX)
HOAX is an indie pop-rock band from Queens, New York. It is the musical brainchild of Michael Raj and Frantz Cesar, who create the sonics and concepts behind their self-described style of “empathy pop” music. Their modern-vintage musical sound draws from a wide range of influences like 60’s pop, 70’s Motown, and alternative R&B. They like to see themselves as “the beautiful sound of sadness”, a description coined by a close friend. Their music thematically focuses on the human condition, explorations of social constructs, and the decisions people make based on them, all tucked underneath pop melodies.
