Excuse Me. Shares Hooky New Single And Video “Tangerine” Ahead Of I: Capsizing
Indie-alternative outfit and Guelph, Ontario natives, Excuse Me. are excited to announce their new EP I: Capsizing will arrive December 1. Along with the announcement, the band shares the project’s first offering; a new single and video for “Tangerine”. Engineered by Steve Luxton at Juno-winner Dave Falco’s Howl Studio, and mastered by Juno-winning engineer Noah Mintz, the track features retro synth arpeggios and face-scrunching guitar riffs over pace-pushing drums, while frontman Aleks Liskauskas’ cathartic, vocal flourishes shine on the emotionally charged indie banger.
“‘Tangerine’ captures what it’s like being in the emotional rollercoaster of a relationship,” Explains Liskauskas. “To feel something slipping through your grasp, but anxiously obsessing over it and trying to hold it together. You think you know where things are headed, and then you’re thrown into a wall-of-sound guitar solo thrashing on top of unhinged double-time drums.”
The new single sets the tone for the upcoming I: Capsizing. Anxious, dramatic, and always subverting expectations, I: Capsizing is the prologue to the band’s recent EP, II: Left Behind, and another chapter of Excuse Me.’s sophomore LP, The Light, released in early 2024. The new collection adds to the ongoing narrative, showing the protagonist’s obsessive despair before buying a “Trans Am” and making way for his imagined paradise on “The Coast”.
With the energy of alternative rock, the emotion of folk, and the technicality of metal and jazz; these five neurotic 20-somethings hailing from Guelph, Ontario make music with a striking sonic maturity for a band with just one full-length record under their belt. It becomes much less surprising when you learn what they’ve overcome to see their music come to fruition. Forged in fire – quite literally – in 2018 after frontman Aleks Liskauskas’ house burnt down, taking the band’s gear with it, just three days before their first show.
Following the fire, Liskauskas was plagued with anxiety-ridden dreams about his teeth falling out, which the band channelled into their 2018 song “Teeth”. Much of their music is written in this way: by five friends trying to make sense of complex emotions.
“This album nearly destroyed us,” shares Liskauskas. “After that, we dealt with eviction by shady landlords, being separated by lockdowns, losing 3 almost finished mixes to a faulty hard-drive, and just general passionate in-fighting about how to make each song sound exactly right. It’s been an incredibly taxing process, but it’s finally finished and is unequivocally the best thing we’ve ever written. We’re excited for people to hear every piece of this story.”
With this combination of emotional depth and boundary-pushing intention, the group has a remarkable ability to transform intricate songwriting into a captivating experience that tugs at your heartstrings while igniting an irresistible urge to scream and dance. Having steadily amassed a dedicated following in the vibrant music hotbed that is Southern Ontario, Excuse Me. is poised to reach new heights with their next EP I: Capsizing, fueled by the release of their captivating single, “Tangerine”.