A weekly dose of weird, "WeIrD SoNg Of ThE WeEk" presents you with Chicago's strangest, wonkiest, noisiest, most fun, intergalactic, icky, gooey songs one week at a time.
Photo Courtesy of the Artists
Exeunt? Who are they? Where are they from?
What we know: The mysterious group hails from Finland and has been popping up around the Chicago DIY scene lately playing shows at Charm School, The Observatory, and Subterranean among other venues, their faces concealed by masks, balaclavas, and electric-blue Morph Suits. Their music is disturbing, distorted, loud, and thoughtful. It is not beautiful music; it is the kind of music that is painful to listen to, the stalky greens of rock 'n' roll, bitter, stringy, hard to chew, and oh so good for you.
Where exactly in Finland are they from, you may ask? Each member (Katyja Niemi on vocals, Aapo Hämähäkinverkko on guitar, Spökke Aave on bass, and Päiviö Sininen on drums) supposedly hails from a different part of the country and came together to form a band in Espoo, the second largest city in Finland.
Why did they come to Chicago? It remains unclear, and every time they are asked about their relocation from Europe to the States, they get nervous and change the subject. Perhaps they are running from something? Perhaps they have secrets none of us will ever uncover.
I was lucky enough to speak with Katja via e-mail about Exeunt's latest song “I do, that’s why.” The lyrics of the song are based on Katja’s “intrusive thoughts and obsessive compulsive disorder.” The song itself is a mental illness, a twisted worm that eats its way into your brain and, for the four-minute, 46-second duration of the track, makes you yourself feel you are going insane.
Katja describes the song beautifully: “It is like a flood. The representation of psychosis as a flood or drowning came together very fast and angrily, as it always feels, like torrents of ruthless water. Tempo is like the fading tide that rushes back at you—we want the listener to drown in the currents.”
Interview and writing by Elizabeth Meyer
Listen to "I do, that's why":