Till I’m Drunk and Confused by Exzenya is a song that does what few uplifting tracks have the heart to do, it brings a feeling of freedom and heartbreak at the same time. The self-subsistence artist has created a folk-pop lamentation that does not grieve but instead, it dances about emotional debris with a brashness withstands.
The production is based on ukulele and acoustic guitar, and it has a cheerful uplift that intentionally works against its seriousness of purpose. This is not by chance, it is the sound personification of a person smiling despite their pains and dancing to a tune as the world around them falls apart. The contemporary percussion is very pushy and there is no time to relax and drift into listening to the song. Each aspect requires involvement.
The uniqueness of this release is that Exzenya believes in the genuineness of vocals, in the absence of autotune, digital effects, and other manipulation tools, only in pure, human, and live performance. She possesses the conversational closeness of confiding in the wee hours of a night, a listener of her storey on how to lose someone to alcohol, and then attempt to face the very loss by the same devastating process. It is ironic, and that Exzenya is not afraid of it.
The brilliance of the song is in its reachability. On the surface, it is actually quite catchy, the type of music which gets stuck in your mind after only one play. But here what lies under that melodic gloss is emotional reality. It is based on the life experience of a former psychology and human behaviour expert (Exzenya) which leads to subtle observations concerning denial, responsibility, and unwilling self-awareness.
As part of her ambitious project of Bar Scenes and Rumours, Till I am Drunk and Confused is the most emotionally intelligent version of contemporary folk-pop. Exzenya has done something that is uncommon: she has created a song, which is like the rays of the sun shining through the dark clouds, which is beautiful and bitter simultaneously. This combination of vulnerability and warmth is memorable, it is the type of song that sticks around long after the song is over.
