Local Spotlight | “Every Excuse” by Jesabel

Since the release of her 2020 debut single, “Forgiveness,” Jacksonville singer-songwriter Jesabel has continued to crank out the kind of ambitious indie pop that’s more easily suited for FM radio than open-mic nights at coffee houses. Her latest, the lush and cathartically sung “Every Excuse,” is packaged for comparable grandeur. 

“Every lie, every break, every second that you take is tearing me in two,” Jesabel sings in the song’s opening salvo over fastidious handclaps and acoustic guitar plucks. Like any good pop tune, “Every Excuse” makes effective use of dynamics, building its sonic infrastructure in the verses before unleashing a lethally infectious soundscape for the song’s hook––layered background vocals, dramatic cymbal crashes and open-chord electric guitar strums buoy Jesabel’s simple cadence “You’ve got every excuse.” 

Produced and mastered by frequent collaborator and co-writer Jonathan Grant Berlin (Sunbears!), “Every Excuse” also finds Jesabel expanding her sound in preparation for a run of performances, backed by a full band, beginning in January of 2021. 

Listen to “Every Excuse” on your preferred streaming platform below.