Exhalants - Atonement
Noise Rock needs to be played loud. At its best, It is filled with attitude and angst, is jagged, abrasive and filled with passion and honesty. Repetition is part of its charm; but it can pummel the listener as much as its distortion can rattle the speakers and shred the ears. The genre’s vocals often have little melody, and you need to have patience in order to return to it. But what is cool about Noise Rock is that it will always remain in the underground, and it will be for those that seek something different.
Exhalants version of noise rock leans more towards hardcore, post rock and alternative space rock than the punk vibe of fellow Texas contemporaries Xetas. Exhalants are also less quirky and experimental than fellow Austin cult band Cherubs. They state Unwound as a huge influence, and you can hear more of them in comparison to Unwound’s earlier work than an album such as Leaves Turn Inside You. However, an Unsane comparison is the most obvious, especially when things get ultra low and vicious, with a rubbery bass slapping you in the face like a used condom, and saliva flying from the mouth of Steve, spitting vocals at you. But, in tandem with the dirge, Exhalants use melody to sprout a flower out of the dirt, just like Unsane does.
Exhalant’s 2018 self titled debut album is solid and promised a lot. Its bookends Latex and I’ll Take You to a Quiet Place showcased two sides to the band, and in between was the Slint like Public Display of Failure, and a batch of songs that were fast, loud, ugly and pensive, with angst and satire. There was no need to atone for anything; however 2020’s Atonement is a step up in terms of songwriting, emotion, craft, and production. It is an album that requires many listens to unearth charm; not because it is dense with layers and hidden textures, but because Noise Rock at its core is not easily accessible - Atonement seeps in, slowly but surely.
Exhalants mirror Unsane’s ability to hold a low yet filthy bass tone belly, and then have the nuance to flower the stomach with glorious lead parts and a hint melody. The dynamic songwriting, and variation on Atonement is telling, especially compared to their debut, and many contemporary Noise Rock bands. At the core, it is loud, distorted and angry, but the band confidently add more hooks than before; they have crafted parts to grab hold of - and there is overall more weight to everything. No track sounds the same, which can not necessarily be said of their debut. Atonement dips in pace just when you need it to be, and it gets filthy at the right times.
The Thorn You Carry in Yr Side opens the album and it hits you heavy; but also flips you with unexpected melody, and uplifting guitar leads. The DIY aesthetic of Exhalants is not a unique sound, and the this type of distortion has been used a thousand times over, but there is a charm that is unmistakeable here, a warmth that you want to lay down in.
The Negative Creep tinge of Bang moves the listener through a series of angry exchanges until a jagged off kilter solo is unleashed. The track is equally as ferocious as Blame Me from Unsane’s Scattered, Smothered & Covered. There is nothing overly progressive about the structure of the songs on Atonement. There are clear verses and choruses, and wild bridge sections that does not make the album accessible by any means, but what it does is bring familiarity to the album, and you never feel like you are lost listening to it.
Steve, Tom and Bill throw everything on the table, each having their moment in the mix, but no-one ever dominates. The listener get a chance to breathe on Definitions, the first point on the album that showcases the different side to Exhalants. It moves gently to begin with and gradually builds into something very powerful, and clearly personal. This is a band on their second album that could quite easily spit out a meat and potatoes hardcore record, but this has nuance and craft.
Good music does not have to be overly complicated, especially if you have a rhythm section that can roll like Tom and Bill do on End Scenes. Upon first listen the Fugazi like riff is the most noticeable, but it is the rhythm section that gives this track an unmistakable sense of power. A stabbing Daughters like sequence unleashes Richard into our ears as the album heads into its second half. It is a jarring opening, and contributes to the uneasy current beneath Atonement. A muted Glassjaw riffs pushes and pulls the track with precision alongside snarled vocals, with the bass churning below; that the strings can remain on the fretboard is remarkable. Richard flows perfectly into Crucifix, which is a slow burning and uncomfortable bang clash of angst and power with unsettling melody. Everything on Atonement seems to lead to the moment on Crucifix when the protagonist runs a warm bath and draws a CRUCIFIX down his arm.
Atonement takes the listener on quite a journey, and it is a journey that flows very well, dragging through dips of pace and emotion, aggression and melody - even the saddest parts of life can have moments that bring with it a smile, a snarl, satire or hope. And then comes Lake Song, wrapping up all of what Exhalants can do, and moving it forward with cello and trumpet dynamics, loud explosions and dramatic turns of post rock poetry and prose. The only negative here being that the production of the spoken word sections on several songs would have been more effective front and centre, and a little clearer. It would have elevated a song like Definitions to the nest level. Perhaps Exhalants have a Sooey Pig in them, and that is where they will push through to next.
Exhalants is currently #6 on the Rolling Top Ten of 2020.
Recommended if you like: Unsane, Fugazi, Unwound, Nirvana, Today is the Day, Cherubs.
Tracklist
1 - The Thorn You Carry In Yr Side
2 - Bang
3 - Passing Perceptions
4 - Definitions
5 - End Scenes
6 - Richard
7 - Crucifix
8 - Blackened
9 - Lake Song