Strange Ranger : " Pure Music"

 One of the more compelling forms pop music has taken on this year. I am a little late to the party as this is the band's fourth album, but glad I am finding it now. The challenge for them is going to be keeping the tension of the emotional urgency captured on the opening track. There is more of a breathy dream pop feel to "She's on Fire" but it still works for me. There are guitars being strummed, making this not just an album of button-pushing or Digital Audio workstations. The guitars jangle a great deal, but all the other elements feel like they are falling into place well enough. I like the swirling mix of the album that allows the layers of vocals to weave in and out. 

"Dream" finds things going in a more electronic direction. Almost like you stumbled into an underground club in the late 90s; "Way Out" has a Cure-like guitar melody haunting a weird brand of glitched-out new wave. I am not surprised that this band comes from New York as it sounds like blurred snap shots of the night life there. "Blue Shade" finds things taking on more of a hazy shade narcotics. The sedate vocals work with against the tapestry of synths and beats colliding. I like the way it drones while continuing to add fresh coats on sound upon the otherwise simple arrangements. "Blush" continues to uphold the precedent set but the band. The guitar sounds great despite sitting oddly in the mix. If you were looking for a late night album to do drugs to, this is a decent contender.  Subtle sax creeps into the edges of the song.

"Wide Awake" takes more of an 80s beat and casts the detached indifference of shoe gaze against it. The beat is fairly up-tempo, but it does not feel like pop. Some kids might call this "vapor wave" but it does not have the neon bi-lighting to make this a fashion choice. Normally the breathy vocals that typically dominate this album might start to wear thin seven songs in, but everything else sits in the right place to compensate for it. "Ask Me About My Love Life" has an ethereal weirdness that reminds me of Blonde Redhead. This is one of the first songs where the lyrics stand out, and they are pretty clever. The guitar wanders in the reverb-soaked background. At five minutes it's the album's longest songs. Three minutes in it begins to feel like it is remixing itself.

"Fantasy" finds the atmosphere beginning to overtake the arrangement. It floats off into the shadows of a rainy night. The synths kind of jam things out a little. The album closes with a more hushed vocal performance that sounds like they are hovering close to the mic. Despite the last two songs perhaps not being as focused, I will give this album a 9.5, still placing them over the bulk of pop/ electronic artists today.