Call it ‘album interrupted’. Austin songwriter Stephanie Hunt, recording under the name Buffalo Hunt, had released her album Ambitions of Ambiguity as far back as the fall of 2020 on Bandcamp, but then pulled it back. In the last two years of pandemic, Hunt knew she couldn’t give the record a proper sendoff, so in its wake, the only evidence remaining are a few charismatic videos, “Living In a TV”, “Apple Tree” and “Addicted to Reality”. The songs reveal Hunt’s penchant for crafted, lush pop melodies with Disney-esque harmonies, not entirely dissimilar to St. Vincent. And something more: a need to escape an uncertain existence. Hunt’s time in LA on a successful acting career (Friday Night Lights, Californication, Glee, several others) seems to have sent her adrift. Her songwriting grounded her during those years, and she now dismisses her former profession as “saying lines that people had written for me.” The long wait, along with her work as part of the more theatrical music duo Nancy and Beth, heightened anticipation of Buffalo Hunt’s re-emergence. Now, back in her hometown of Austin, armed with a new label – Nine Mile Records, Stephanie is finally ready to put things in motion. The album’s stylings swing wide, with expert backing by the Texas Gentlemen, Shakey Graves and others. And if the scars of uncertainty remain, there’s also promise. Whatever happens next is her own, and finally, this is her time.
Jack Palmer 
