EXCLUSIVE! ‘Wake Up’ by AM Exchange

AM Exchange: grunge rocker now flying solo

This week’s Thursday track exclusive is a slice of summery, indie-tinged pop coming all the way from sunny Los Angeles

hursday’s here again, which means a) it’s nearly the weekend and b) it’s time for another Songwriting world exclusive. Tonight, we bring you a first listen to the brand new single from LA-based indie/alt-pop artist AM Exchange. Wake Up trails his debut EP Intentions, which is due to be released next month.

Daniel Jacobs, as he’s known to his mum and the taxman, began his musical career playing in an Oregon grunge band in the mid-00s. But in 2012, after winning a songwriting contest and playing some solo acoustic shows, he decided to go it alone. Relocating to LA, he took his new artist moniker from a sleep-talking woman he sat next to on a plane, who kept telling him he was going to “miss his AM exchange”.

Citing the likes of Foo Fighters and Passion Pit as influences, Daniel writes, performs and produces all his own material. He says of tonight’s offering: “Wake Up is a bit of a departure for me, I put the guitar down and sat at a piano and from there it developed into a sort of a synth-pop arrangement. There are guitars on parts of the song, but mostly it’s just anything in the studio that had keys… piano, Rhodes, organs, synth. Piano isn’t my primary instrument, so I was operating much more from instinct which can often help me be more honest with my writing.”

“Lyrically, it’s a conversation between two people that find themselves in a catastrophic situation, backs up against the wall, everything on the table, asking what really matters. The perspective trades off between verses and bridges. The lead synth line takes the place of a traditional lyrical chorus and experiments with idea of using just melody to convey a certain vibe or feeling.”

​We can hear echoes of 80s and 90s Britpop and indie in Wake Up – think Lightning Seeds, Stephen’Tin Tin’ Duffy, Blur – but, as ever, you can make up your own mind…

Like that? Then find AM Exchange on Facebook, Soundcloud, Twitter and YouTube, or at his own website

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