Exek - The Map and the Territory (2023) Hi-Res

Refreshingly modest words accompany this sixth record from Melbourne's EXEK, described by frontman Albert Wolski as, "perhaps less ambitious than some previous EXEK releases". Wolski is better positioned than I am to make such a comment - he did make the thing and has self-released it after all - but it seems a moot qualification to me. I've always found EXEK to be a highly distinct band, absorbing a range of immaculate influences in such a way so as to hide the bolts and stitch lines, consistently resulting in a unique mutant assemblage of dubby dynamics, acerbic post-punk and wry song-era Eno artpop. The Map and the Territory is perhaps their most soft-focus collection to date, leaning even further into the Eno zone, like a dreamier reconfiguring of Before and After Science which has become near-hallucinogenic having spent a few too many hours under the blazing sun. And of course, it wouldn't be an EXEK album without Wolski's words, gently lacerating jabs at pop culture's veneer exposing the stupidity and ridiculousness at the heart of a lot of what claims itself entertainment: any album that opens with the line "on the top there's a bar but it's quite shit and it's difficult to get inside" is more than likely to win great favour round these parts. If that's what lack of ambition amounts to these days, then perhaps things aren't quite as bad as i thought? My instinct, though, is that Wolksi's undersold the entire endeavour and what we're left with is further evidence of what is quite possibly the best currently active band in Australia right now.