The five-piece electro-indie band from Bristol is back with a new album. Strangers will be released May 18, bringing back their electronic punkish sounds that are submerged in their indie acoustic chords.
You might have seen the band performing around the world, bringing in more and more crowds each time, basically relying on word of mouth each time to create a bigger audience into their music. The band’s name, in case you didn’t recognize comes from Ramona Flowers, the lead female character in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and it was originally formed in order to “bring together [the band’s] shared search to find the sweet spot between rock and electronica.”
Band members include Steve Bird, Dave Betts, Ed Gallimore, Sam James, and Wayne Jones. One of their fans includes Bono from the band U2.
Their encounter was a random strike of luck, like something coming out of a movie: Betts and Bird meet each other at a costume party, where one was dressed as Freddy Mercury and the other as a vacuum cleaner. Strangers will be the group’s third album, which according to Bird, is some of the best work the band has done.
“This album feels like a natural progression,” said Bird. “We still use a lot of synths, like from the 80’s, but it definitely has a more modern sound to it as well, so I think it’s a blend of everything.”
The album is said to have a lot of the same synths the band has previously used, bringing back a familiar feel to their new album.
“The album, [lyric-wise], is a lot about relationships,” said Bird. “There were certain things in the band that people were going through, or that I was going through as well. So, some of it is about myself, and some of it will be about other people, but sometimes when I write the lyrics might flip back, to give the song a little bit of a twist. So, it’s a blend of people within the band, myself, and people around me.”
Although the band has based their sound on electro-rock, they seem to have influences all over the place. From classical to funk to jazz, the band tries to merge their inspirations together to bring out their sound.
“As a band, we’ve got a quite eclectic taste in music,” Bird said. “In common, we all have electronic guitar music, because that’s basically what our music is. But, you know, in the band it digs into sort of jazz and funk and classical as well. Everyone likes all different types, so we just kind of blend it all and try to find a common ground within the band, and that’s normally what our sound is born out of.”
The band’s singles “Out of Focus,” “Dramatist,” and “Same Sun” are available to stream now. You can pre-order the album here.
By Aimée Santillán