In case you were worried, New Jersey emo-pop-punkers Retrograde return with “Exit 20 (Don’t Worry)”. Minus a short split a while back, these guys have been around since 2016. Out of the gates with a soft warbling effect hinting at the melody, it doesn’t take long for the guitars and drums to flare up and straight into the chorus. Now, the first thing that jumps out is how the high harmony voice has a sneaky resemblance to Justin Hawkins from The Darkness. Fast forward to 18 seconds, and Retrograde delivers a silky smooth transition, and the calm of the verse settles in with the cheerfully sung ‘Bad weather forecast in your head / It’s cloudy weather with wishing you were dead / Lonely nights again, lonely nights again’. Can it get more emo than that?
The second verse has a couple of fun palm-muted build-up guitars to start getting you pumped up again. And pumped you will get! Eventually, they take it to the bridge, and we’re full circle to the warble effect, but now applied to the vocals. Although one could argue it’s unnecessary, it works. I hope that when they play live, the last ‘Don’t worry’ shout is through a megaphone!
“Exit 20 (Don’t Worry)” dates back to 2024, but keep your ears open for Lifeline, a new single coming out on February 17th, 2026.
Written by Greg Gobel
