A Strange Noise

Bill Adams Review

     

In listening to the album, there’s no doubt that some of the songs were clearly written at different stages of the band’s development (“Utah Living” is closer to the sort of jangly Britpop the made Suede valid dinner conversation in the Nineties, while “Swings & Roundabouts” sits closer to electro-punk) but, even so, there’s no denying the connective tissue that binds the songs; no matter which way The Strange bangs out its’ unique blend of indie/Brit/pop/punk, the band always seems to have another gaffe-sized hook at the ready and songs including “Fashion Senseless,” “Effin’ & Blindin’,” “The One You Left Behind” and “The First Against The Wall” don’t just catch listeners, they burrow under the skin of the unsuspecting and begin to reset bodily rhythms.

Barry’s own melodic croon simultaneously adopts the tenor of every single Brit-pop phenomenon at once and offers them out in a very open-ended sort of way, such that anyone listening can take whichever angle they choose and enjoy the record regardless.

The final result is not unlike a musical skeleton key in that, no matter who you are, you’ll find something in these arch pop sounds to take home and love; that’s Situationist sensibility at its’ finest.