My favorite songs open with a bang.
A good drum beat, a blazing guitar solo, a killer hook. The best music pulls the listener in right away and refuses to let go. ‘Press Repeat’ by The Exits is a song that delivers on every level. You can feel this music in your bones-what’s better than that?
‘Press Repeat’ is a truly excellent song with a good beat; reminiscent of 70s glam rock and early 2000s britpop (if you can imagine such a thing). Think the complexity of Franz Ferdinand mixed with the attitude of The Sweet. The opening instrumentals, as mentioned previously, are especially strong and set the stage for the rest of the number. It’s high energy, it’s raw. It conjures up images of The Exits dancing around a stage with guitars and pho leather pants. What? A girl can dream.
This city of beggars,
Was bringing me down
Saved all my lifelines
Now their bailing me out
If you are looking for deep, you will not find it here. Press Repeat does not break any new ground; it’s about a young, disillusioned man in the big city. What a revelation. The chorus mostly consists of The Exits singing a series of ‘yeahs’ said in the same mildly enthusiastic hipster tone that is so popular nowadays, but the guitar solos more than make up for the uninspired lyrics.
You are not going to come away from this song contemplating the meaning of life. So what? The music is fundamentally great and that is what matters. “Press Repeat” is eminently listenable. Contemporary pop has never been about strong lyrics; the modern music listeners favor ‘sick beats’ and “Press Repeat” has that in spades.
The Exits are a homegrown band from the New York indie rock scene. They are refreshingly free of all the tiresome L.A isms that have infected the charts as of late. You will not find a rap break or a weird dance track underlay here.
Their song is pure, unadulterated alternative fun. I only wished it lasted longer.
They have said that they want their music to “speak to the loneliness of urban life and the urgency of human connection” (which is a very indie rock thing to say). I don’t know if it does all that.
