In rock’n’roll history, the combo guitar/drums has always produced some incredible duos. From The White Stripes to The Black Keys, there’s something incredibly euphoric and charming in two committed people embracing minimalism and creativity. Of course, we are not referring to actual minimalism, just a functional one. You see, limitations are often the needed spark for a great sonic formula. Take up-and-coming outfit Exceptional Failures, for instance. Hailing from Portland, the talented pair enjoys a rather eclectic ethos, blending rhythms and distortions with multi-genre flair.
Mind you: the aural intensity is always high and present, and you’d be hard-pressed not to consider them a rock duo. Yet, the way they express their musical prowess always changes, hopping on a wide variety of subgenres, so as not to get bored. ‘Jungle in my Head’ is the perfect evidence of that. In fact, the record was first conceived as a series of individual singles, something that adds to the diverse flair behind the album. Eventually, the original recordings were distilled down to a somewhat cohesive package.
Delving deeper behind the record, Distler and Damian (the humans behind Exceptional Failures) explain: “We started out just dropping singles because it’s cheaper, faster and we really just wanted to get people out to our shows. Those recordings were all over the place, barely sounding like the same band from track to track, but this album? It’s like we finally figured out how to make chaos sound cohesive.”
Recommended! Discover ‘Jungle in my Head’ on Spotify:
