Ears Wide Open: Ex-poets

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Ex-poets (Photo by Chris Tucci)
Ex-poets (Photo by Chris Tucci)

Ex-poets’ “Tracks” is one of those songs that could soundtrack a daydream. It’s effervescent, dreamy and floating, featuring pleasant waves of synths and soft vocals over a simple but present drum beat, reminiscent of early Washed Out. It’s the third single from the duo’s forthcoming album “Too Much Future” out Sept. 28 on San Francisco-based label Text Me Records.

The project is masterminded by multi-instrumentalists Jordan Brooks and Colin Killalea (the lead vocalist), friends since they studied music in New York and most recently members of Albert Hammond Jr.’s band. Between them, they have played with the likes of Sondre Lerche, John Congleton and Natalie Prass, among others, and for the Ex-poets album they did much of their collaboration long-distance, since they are situated on opposite coasts.

“‘Tracks’ is a love song sharing a namesake with Louise Erdrich’s [novel] ‘Tracks,’ written after a fever dream while things were coming into clarity about a past relationship,” Killalea says of the tune, on which Brian Wolfe (Sharon Jones) played drums and Frank Locrasto (Cass McCombs) played keyboards. “It’s an elemental song, mourning a loss, and set in nature.”

||| Stream: “Tracks” and “Colorguard”