“Double Lives,” the new one from Jangus Kangus, is more than a great song; it is a challenge—a throwing down of the gauntlet to pop music makers to do something more interesting, more adventurous, less conventional, less conformist with the form. For this is pop music, in the best and loosest sense of the term, or at least it would be if pop music upped its game and rose to the challenge that a song such as this offers.
What is so great about “Double Lives,” well, just one of the many great things about it, is how it uses wonderfully non-pop sounds and styles as the basic building blocks yet ends up with sonic architecture that out-performs pop by…well, any sonic metric or yardstick you care to mention.
There are soulful guitar licks and jangling indie riffs, a faint vibe of ’60s surf bands, the gentle echo of 70’s psychedelic outfits, and even a faint pulse of punk energy driving things forward. And a wonderful sense of longing and perhaps even loss is found running through the lyrics.
Jangus Kangus makes the sort of music that gives the likes of Sharon Van Etten and Courtney Barnett a run for their money and, without saying as much out loud, screams in the face of popular music….you must do better!
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