After a long week of work, COVID-19 scares and podcast production, it feels great to be back writing reviews. And even though I’m trying to balance work emails too, it’s nice just to sit down and take in some music. On display today, we have returning IMN champs Capitol, with their new single, Piano Exit. The Ontario-based indie band are known for their enveloping soundscapes, which are achieved by subversive guitars and retro synths. This is all underpinned by droning, lo-fi vocal performances that harken to that of The National.
The B-side to the previously released Weathered, Piano Exit solidifies the preconceptions of Capitol and develops them further to create a piece of atmospheric and cumbersome indie music. A lone cymbal echos out, inviting a creeping, melodic and effects-ladened guitar to join, before a curtain of overwhelming sound crashes down from above. Expertly composed, the driving rhythm of bass and drums swiftly moves a dense slab of fuzzy guitar and synths along to create a chaotic, yet calming white noise. The vocals, and everything else for that matter, are drenched in such reverb, making the track seem mammoth, and yet intimate at the same time. The impenetrable sound continues to the end, closing a very intense tale of selfishness and regret.
Piano Exit is everything you could want from an indie standpoint. It’s thick, it’s victorious, it’s melancholic, and it’s most importantly, great. Capitol have found their niche, and it’s up them to exploit it for all its worth. If we get more tunes like this, keep them coming. “Fuck it! I like it anyway”.
