EXES

EXES is an electro-dream-pop duo formed by singer Allie McDonald and producer Mike Derenzo, who met while both were pursuing music independently in college and later joined forces, based in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. Their sound pairs McDonald's intimate, emotionally direct vocals with Derenzo's detail-oriented, atmospheric production, resulting in pop songs that feel both polished and vulnerable.

The project emerged through a series of standalone singles before crystallizing into their debut EP, The Art of Saying Goodbye, released on 7 October 2016. That release established the duo's signature blend of shimmering, nostalgic electronic textures with confessional songwriting, drawing on memories of people, places and past relationships rather than abstract themes.

EXES occupies a niche within the broader electro-pop landscape defined less by dancefloor ambition than by a wistful, post-youth mood — music built for reflection as much as for listening on headphones late at night. Their work reflects a close creative partnership between a singer-songwriter and a producer who built the sonic world around her voice from the ground up, giving the duo a cohesive, DIY-adjacent identity distinct from more commercially engineered pop acts of the same era.