By: Margot(awfrickadoodle)
“EMWAY comes to your city just to raise the insurance rates.”- Stu Benjamin
Over the course of this past week, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of listening to Double Bind by Madison, Wisconsin homerun hitters, Excuse Me, Who Are You?. This of course was through the generosity of the band themselves. So while they’ve trusted me with keeping the secrets of their debut LP, it is finally time for me to spill my guts over what I am calling my personal album of the year.
Fans of EMWAY? will remember the EP they put out in late 2022, “About That Beer I Owed Ya?”. A four track project showing strong promise of the immense talent coming from the 4-piece collective. With themes hailing from the Valve-made 1998 first person shooter, Half-Life, the EP proved they were an undeniable staple of the diy music scene. They were quickly signed to Thumbs Up Records, and went on tours with other notable label and local alumni like Tiny Voices. This leads to today where everyone begs the question, what is their upcoming release entail and what more can we expect from the band?
The Album:
Double Bind is an eight track LP reeling in at 18 minutes in length, featuring Tyler Stodghill of Stars Hollow, Caleb from Hey, Ily, Ben from Tiny Voices, and Maxwell of Endswell. Sweeping through heavy hitters, dancey ballads, and soft interludes, Double Bind is an ice cream sundae with a million cherries on top. Almost as they were proving someone wrong, EMWAY? is back in a way we’ve never seen them before, and trust that it’s something to be rowdy about. The technical awareness and execution brought to these songs should be studied and curated. You know how your mom is always mad when you get put on aux because you “always play that yelling stuff that no one can understand.”? Well guess what mom, I might be listening to that yelling stuff, but trust when I say you can not miss “Ask me if I give a fuck about it?”. This of course is the intro line to the self titled track, Double Bind.
Starting from the top, intro track classically named “EMWAY?” lends itself to introduce not only the album in such a forward way, but as well as the concept. Double Bind of course, draws from “Perfect Blue”, an anime film released in 1997. “A lot of the subject ties into what we were trying to say. It’s trying to figure out what’s real in your life and what’s fake, whether that be your thoughts, your friends, etc.”- Kyle Kinney(lead vocalist) “That movie is also just fucking awesome and I’ve loved it since middle school and forced Kyle to watch it.”- Stu Benjamin
“Curses!! I’ll Get You Next Time, Powertron!” is the next track after previously released single, “Maybe That Truck Hit Me… And This Is All a Dream”. Good lord does this song deliver in so many areas. First note being the complex rhythms each member puts themself into and executing perfectly. Next being the longful, yet perfect opportunity for an endearing crowd participation moment, where syncopated claps play backed by Kyle screaming, “Are you happy now?”. My personal favorite song of this LP, “https: mimasroom.com” is the limelight that shines on this album. In a way we’ve never seen EMWAY before, we are hit with a very calming and vibe-friendly track interlaced with synth and vocals by Caleb of Hey, Ily. The way this is portrayed is seaming-less, it’s like the band has been writing slow, methodical pieces their entire career. A ballad, true and honest, that is a shocking element, yet very approachable.
Comedically titled, Volcano Balls, is a return to form and a great time. It’s hard to feel bad to the somber lyrics of the track when you’re too busy getting giddy over the MKE extravaganza displayed here. Ben of Tiny Voices, lends an amazing bridge feature that solidifies its character. Another one to scream with your friends on the drives home.
“<3” is the interlude of this project and it earns its place. It is an important tie from track to track, as well as just the general flow of the album. If it were at all possible to get an instrumental EMWAY project, I’d be having my cake and eating it too.
Tying out this masterpiece are the self titled track “Double Bind” and last track, “Let’s End All Of This”. Double Bind wastes no time reminding you what you’re here for, with a high tempo and multiple screams, you’re instantly back into the mosh-heavy, arm flailing goodness that EMWAY has perfected. Closing track, in no subtle way, is the only way I can imagine topping this project off. “I only exist when you need something,” while starting out as a song about good times with friends, morphed into a bitter, angry tune. Describing how the people around you only take and never give, it sums up the theme amazingly. In the end, you only have yourself, but after that what are you? (at least that’s my interpretation)
The Interview:
A few baselines, I went into this conversation with Stu and Kyle with some previously thought of questions, as well as on the fly. Second, in my attempt at recording audio for this interview, I goofed up and didn’t record their audio at all, so all quotes in article and interview are paraphrased. Please do not take these directly as what Kyle or Stu said, these are my words of theirs.
Me: How did you get in contact/what was the process with Caleb from Hey, Ily for the feature?
Kyle: One of our first tours was with Hey, Ily and we knew we wanted to do something pretty so we asked Caleb to sing and play synth.
Me: To my understanding these songs have been pretty put together for a bit now, has there been major changes from live shows and playing these songs going into record? or have they all been pretty much the same and standard throughout writing/recording?
Kyle: They’ve all been pretty cohesive since around the end of 2021, “Curses” changed the most overall, but we went back to the first idea we had all the way back, so it didn’t really change.
Me: What’s everyone’s favorite anime movie?(aside from Perfect Blue)
Kyle: Princess Mononoake for sure.
Stu: The Castle of Cagliostro or the Neon Genesis movies.
Me: Now that you’ve done a video game(Half Life) and movie(Perfect Blue) as concepts for these projects. Going forward would the next concept be based off of a tv show?
Stu: Probably Neon Genesis or Spaced, but we aren’t always going to do samples.
Kyle: Did everyone really think we were going to be the Half Life band?
Me: If you were a valve character, which one would you be?
Stu: Jackson is spy, Hayden is scout, Kyle is medic, and I’m sniper.
Me: How much of the vocals on record were recorded in that tiny was room?
(The room in question)
Kyle: The entire album. All of my voice stems on record were recorded in that room, even the Endswell feature and Lets End All Of This group vocals.
Me: What would you say your FFO(for fans of) of Double Bind would be?
Both: See Thru Person, Tiny Voices, Aren’t We Amphibians.
Me: Which projects/artists would you say inspired your parts of double bind?
Kyle: I like William Bonney and Devil Wears Prada and stuff but, it’s just us y’know?
Stu: Yeah I wouldn’t say anything is a direct influence, Double Bind is very much just us.
Me to Jackson: What styles would you say you take from to get your form/technique?
Jackson: I’m really a bad student of bass, and have never had the patience to learn songs that I’m not required to perform. I learned the most from the non bassist musicians I played with, like my friends Emily, Timber, and Bryce. My high-school jazz band director, Mr. Dorner, also didn’t play bass, but taught me bass concepts that I’ve now spent a decade digesting. Dorner also introduced me to Jaco Pastorious. I’ve never learned one of his parts (they’d kick my ass), but in terms of technique, i think Jaco’s my biggest influence, specifically in trying to finger pluck with consistent attack over the bridge pickup, often stopping the notes with the plucking fingers just before plucking the next note in fast succession. I think of “pop, flip, catch” where pop is the pluck, flip is the note ringing out, and catch is stopping the note with the next finger. I think this fast muting on bass can really help a band sound tight. While there are so many different and awesome ways to play various types of basses, positioning the right hand over the bridge (preferably on a passive bass with a bridge pickup like a J bass) can produce a sweetly singing, punchy sound that i’ve come to require. But i’m never satisfied with tone because i want to hear both that punchy singing quality and also a bright, rattly, contoured sound, which are def at odds with each other. I’m terrified of ruining my bandmates’ good songs and try to balance my lust for contributing melody with supplying low end support and pocket presence. So sorry.
Me to Hayden: There’s a lot of sections in here that seem really rooted in off beat hits/ math rock syncopations in a way, was it a lot of challenge to record these parts or are you just butter like that?
Hayden: You spelled it right don’t worry! My background in drums is rooted in jazz and funk, so I love syncopation and offbeat stuff. I didn’t feel that recording the drums was particularly challenging aside from some technical difficulties, and was able to get them done in about a day. I hope to show more of my roots and do some cool stuff in future recordings!
Me: Is there anyone you want to shout-out or thank with this project?
Kyle: All of our friends that have ever played with us, supported us, listened to us. Obviously the whole Wisco scene, everyone at Thumbs Up Records. Anyone who ever believed in us really.
Stu: I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the fact that my absolute homie, one of my best friends, and great musician Carson D Bell (singer for Carson D Bell, Meat Jelly, The End Times and guitarist for boyclothes) Taught me everything I know about being in a band, booking shows, and sustainability in music, and I think it would be unfair to talk about EMWAY as a band without mentioning him. And to go along with what Kyle said, everyone who ever supported us.
Final Statement:
Overall, Double Bind is a classic in the new age of emo. I promise after first listen you will not be able to get this album out of your head. It is 18 minutes straight of pure talent. This is no doubt my album of the year for 2024, and you are missing out if it’s not at least on your list. My conversation with Stu and Kyle was something I’ll take to heart for awhile. They’re some of the kindest people in this scene and deserve the world. EMWAY to the moon, and stream Double Bind.
EMWAY Merch Link: https://emway608.square.site/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=linktree&utm_campaign=merch+store
Double Bind Streaming: https://open.spotify.com/album/0LJtzCSuN7H6U5FRBSxrQZ?si=3uhuR2T7RtmPhaowNp_utg
EMWAY Socials Linktree: https://linktr.ee/EMWAY
The Diygest 
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