by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
I like to believe that Oakland’s Strangelight is named after the Fugazi song from the seminal album The Argument, and why shouldn’t they be. Creating their own brand of post-hardcore, who better to chose for a namesake. Strangelight however have their own lineage worth noting, featuring members of sludge stalwarts Kowloon Walled City as well as Transistor Transistor and Cobra Skulls. They’ve come together and they’re ready to knock down all doors with their enormous sound, built on Hot Snakes fueled punk and adrenaline, stomping and thrashing one moment, dense and thudding the next. Strangelight are set to self-release their full length debut, Adult Themes, on October 23rd.
Having shared singles “Digressions from Sierra Leone” and “Heaven’s Parking Lot,” we’re excited to offer another glimpse into the record with “Effortless,” a true barn burner that takes three bent notes of an intro and then rips relentlessly. There’s a clear sense that Strangelight’s twist and turns are well calculated, their aggression delivered with a very precise and intelligent heft.
Strangelight bassist Ian Miller shared:
“Songs like 'Effortless' are the reason I wanted in on this band. I mean, I loved playing with Julia in Kowloon Walled City, but Nat's songs are these perfect blunt-force punk anthems. I especially like how the opening riff teases some kind of rockabilly song but then sucker-punches you with a misanthropic hardcore song. On this one especially, Nat and Tony are channeling this specific SoCal dual guitar thing, like the Agnew brothers or Reis and Froberg. I'm mostly just trying to keep up, but I did throw in a couple Tony Lombardo-esque fills when the opportunities presented themselves."