With Brooklyn’s Exitmusic, you can certainly hear faint nods to classic shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine and Mazzy Star, but for Aleska Palladino and Devon Church, creating gauzy layers is just one part of their songwriting process. “We love texture and soundscapes,” Palladino says. “But at the end of the day, there’s got to be a solid song there.”

Not only are Palladino and Church bandmates, they’re also husband and wife. They started writing Exitmusic music several years ago and released their debut EP The Silence last summer on Secretly Canadian. In this latest First Take, Hive’s series dedicated to emerging artists, the band performs “The Hours,” a song that’s momentous in its crescendo but anchored down by Palladino’s soaring vocals. As a bonus, the band recorded a live version of “The Sea.” We can’t wait for their full length album which is due out later this year.

For more of Exitmusic’s First Take shoot, check out the gallery below.