Elephant Jake – ‘98 / Swiss Army Wife – Emergency Contact | Double Single Review

Three years ago, Swim Into The Sound shook the music blog industrial complex to its core when we introduced the world's first-ever Double Single Review. That’s right; two bands, two songs, one post. While some cautioned that this invention would be too innovative, disruptive, or even dangerous, we proceeded anyway. Now that the dust has cleared from that initial fanfare, enough time has passed that it seems safe to revisit the format, and today is the perfect excuse, cause we’ve got another pair of bangers to talk about from emo bands Elephant Jake and Swiss Army Wife.

One weird side effect of COVID is that some bands feel fake. I don’t mean fake in an AI way, quite the opposite. I mean a band that feels so up my alley that it’s hard to believe that they actually walk among us. Their instrumentals are too tight, their smoke too tough, their press photos too swaggy. Until I see these types of bands with my own two eyes, they might as well be a figment of my caffeine-addled imagination.

Elephant Jake is one such group. I’ve been aware of the Philly emo band peripherally for years, even interacted with them online on multiple occasions, but was never able to catch them live due to a combination of small potatoes touring logistics and bad timing. Here was a group I’d listened to and enjoyed, but never laid eyes upon until they materialized on a random Friday night at Ortlieb's opening for the y'allternative emo band Innerlove. I showed up a couple of songs into their set, but by the time I walked in, the band was already tearing shit up, jumping, shouting, and sweating as they cranked out a 30-some-minute set of raucous emo music. 

Today, the group released “'98,” the latest in a line of singles they’ve been dropping throughout the year. The song kicks off with a funky-as-fuck bassline and reserved guitar jangle. Lead vocalist Sal Fratto sashays in with a gentle croon that gradually builds to an anthemic passage as he sings, “While I was fucking it up, you were holding it down / I’m never feeling alive, I’m only losing you now.” Soon, the instrumental bursts into a forward stride as the lyrics continue to wax poetic about the passage of time, eventually leading to a jazzy outro that’s more jam band than Midwest emo. This track, combined with singles “Give Flight” and “Sustain,” seems to indicate that a banger of a full-length is on the way soon. 

Another example of this fake-until-proven-otherwise phenomenon is Swiss Army Wife. I discovered Portland’s tallest emo band sometime in the early days of 2023 with the release of their knockout debut, Medium Gnarly. I’ll admit I was simply excited to have some honest-to-god DIY emo emerging from my hometown, but the group’s live show affirmed that this was, in fact, a real band. I’ve caught the group almost every time I ventured back home to visit my family, including three times in the space of a month this past fall. 

Each time I saw the band, they ran through the hits off their album, their split with Kerosene Heights, and The Ultimate Emo Album, but what excited me most were the songs that hadn’t been released yet. One of them, it turns out, was “Emergency Contact,” also releasing today and arriving courtesy of We’re Trying Records. The track bears the group’s usual jagged and lanky emo instrumentals, prompting fist-balling frustration and offering an outlet to let it out. Things peak about 40 seconds in when the group drops into the chorus with a four-count beat as they shout, “Let’s get married!!!” then proceed to spill their guts in an embarrassing, relatable, and public display of affection. 

Every time the band drops into this chorus, I’m elated. I’ve found it’s the perfect tempo to jump up and down to, already having seen a handful of hometown shows where the crowd shouts each word back, erupting into a jubilant dance floor of carefree emo groves. I’m so glad I can hear this song whenever I want now, and it appears there’s more Swissy to come, which is always a good thing. Portland emo is real, and it’s Swiss Army Wife.