Song of the Day: Two Gallants - Incidental

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Incidental” by Two Gallants from the 2015 album We Are Undone on ATO Records.

Two Gallants - Incidental (MP3)

The San Francisco duo Two Gallants have mined their spartan two-man lineup for every ounce of emotional grit for over a decade of garage- and noise-influenced fury. Guitarist/singer Adam Stephens and drummer Tyson Vogel grew up in the Bay Area together, making music from a young age but operating as Two Gallants. Their first albums found the duo operating within more folk-tinged frameworks, using nuance and restraint in their songwriting before loosening the material onstage during their rigorous touring. In 2012, the band embraced the noisier direction they'd been moving in for some time, releasing the loud and snarling The Bloom and The Blight. That aesthetic carried over into this year's We Are Undone, which reflected on changes in the spirit of their hometown of San Francisco and in their own personal lives. "Incidental" captures that uneasy reflection with reckless abandon. Incorporating some of the strongest hooks on the album, Stephens' vocals breathlessly hang onto the song's instrumental rails, tenuously riding his ragged riffs and Vogel's breakneck drums. Even though We Are Undone focuses on the transient nature of their hometown and relationships, Two Gallants feel anything but complacent on "Incidental" – if everything around them truly is falling, they're going to hang on until the last thread breaks.

Two Gallants will be LIVE on KEXP on Saturday, April 18, at 4:00 PM and will bring We Are Undone to the Tractor Tavern later that night. Get tickets and more info on that 21+ show here, keep up with the band at their Facebook and website, and below, watch the video for "Incidental".