Exit Kid’s ‘I Lied’ begins with a musical box. It’s kitsch in a way. Those few twee seconds quickly become overpowered by the type of bitter guitars that consumed ‘90s grunge, with all the gnarled disfigurements you’d expect.
Less expected is the duo’s origin story. They’re fronted my Emre Türkmen, once a member of UK pop group Years and Years. Exit Kid‘s music is far from the peppiness of Türkmen’s former group, but he’s undeniably a rocker through and through.
The influences are familiar ones – Soundgarden, My Bloody Valentine and Ride to name a few. However, while Exit Kid sound undoubtedly the sort of band who spend more time looking at their chorus pedals than the audience, they don’t substitute sound for craft.
Behind the thick wall of chewed-up overdrive is a melodic vocal and a warmly-delivered hook. Walking the line between nasty heaviness and carefree effervescence, there’s a sweet balance struck.
There are occasions when the influences will be too strong for some to ignore. The loud-soft dynamic that transitions each verse to each chorus is a hackneyed tradition that Exit Kid embrace. It would be unfair to call it derivative, but there is an undeniable template present.
Then again, following a template is not innately bad. Done well and that template leads to impressive results. That’s what Exit Kid does with ‘I Lied’.
Enjoying your music with some bite will likely mean enjoying Exit Kid.