Sleazy, violent, dirty and sexually charged, the music of Melbourne foursome Strangers From Now On falls somewhere in that murky area of not quite pub indie rock and not quite burlesque cabaret. At one moment it calls on the bluesy swagger of David Bowie's 'Jean Genie' in opener 'Midnight Town', but slowed right down to sound like 2:00am at The Pony (R.I.P.), while the next track, 'Ugly', borrows the metronomic undercurrent of 'Burrow' by Heirs. Yeah you'll find influences loud and clear as the bass walks hand in hand with the tom-heavy drums while guitar tracks wax and wane with confidence and measured exploration.
But it's the storytelling vocals with improvised delivery of Gabriel Santos that really reach in and grab your attention and emotions. Rather than warbling like so many thousands of poor fucks who think Mariah Carey and Beyonce were onto a good thing not singing actual notes (anyone see Jessica Mauboy at the ARIA's?), Santos uses grace notes, flourishes, and the beautiful tension and restraint in his soft voice to create a unique identity in a world of carbon-copy indie acts. And then there are the screams that provide the contrast that gives the songs their mood swings. The EP is in fact a re-release, and while the instruments were recorded pretty much live, the vocals were added after although the amount of emotion and energy in them suggests otherwise.
I asked guitarist Aidan Kelly what it did for a guitarist to have someone like Santos on vocals: “Well it taught me to be more expressive. One of the things about playing with Strangers is you do have to come up with more weird noises and expressive flourishes and stuff, and I don't think I'd be forced to do that without Gabby”.
The members of Strangers are a busy bunch, with drummer Miranda Holt also playing with The Lost Sunnies and The In The Out, bassist Dan Myles in When Warmth Crashes In and Kelly in Euphoriacs. As he explained, it's not just about having an outlet for other musical taste: “It's really important just to kind of keep your skills up as a musician and if you don't play much with different people, you can't properly progress.” It's also about making sure those other influences don't have too much impact on the band, especially as they all play a part in building the songs from their foundations through jamming; “You don't really want to be forcing your styles onto something that's working well.”
One of the great things about their four-track self-titled EP is that despite the broad influences and variety between songs, there's a clear identity. Then there's the healthy use of contrast, like Santos's angelic voice over the fuzzy, sludgy riffs in 'It's All So Beautiful', and the dynamics throughout. I asked Kelly if there was still hope in the noise wars but he felt it wasn't really the issue people have built it up to be and that there is plenty of dynamic music out there that people appreciate, especially when playing live.
The dark side of life is embraced in the band's songs through every facet - their composition, the playing, production and vocals all add levels of interest and beauty that happy music can't deliver. “It's what everyone really thinks inside really. We're not happy – may as well not pretend. You can't just deny that half of your existence”. The lyrics themselves are pretty dark and disturbing. Take 'Porajmos', which seems to be about one last fuck before being dragged off to be killed as part of the ethnic cleansing alluded to in the title. Was this a metaphor for life, or simply a story about two people? Like you, I'm going to have to use my imagination to work out what Santos is singing about as Kelly was giving nothing away, which is not a bad thing.
And what kind of animal is Strangers? I think I'll defer to a conversation on Twitter later that day:
StrangersFromNowOn: Got asked "if our music was an animal, what would it be" in an interview today. Took me off guard, said penguin.
Honey Badgers: penguins are way too polite. You're more that monkey using a frog to pleasure itself. Rape monkey.
StrangersFromNowOn: yeah and you guys are the frog #bandfeud
Honey Badgers: that's more like it. How do we go from here to Blur/Oasis? #bandfeud
StrangersFromNowOn: arrogant coke binges
Honey Badgers: your shout
The band has just finished recording their follow-up to the EP and they have a couple of dates coming up very soon. Check them out and decide if they're penguins or rape monkeys. I know what I think.
