Adding drum beats and synths to your music is by now a
staple of the group that has run out of ideas. Many see that by plugging their
guitars or violins or digeridoos into a computer their music will immediately
scream cutting edge. This is very rarely the case with most coming off as out
of touch. You can always tell who had the synth on the table from day one and
who added it in later.
Strangers You Know are certainly a group who knew their
intentions from the start.
The orchestral introduction and the bouncy guitar beat to
this single “Used” may have you confused at the start thinking you are
listening to some horrible bro-country but slowly as the elements are added to
the song what is revealed is a well-produced, groovy composition in which no
elements feel less important than another, with the violins, drum machine and
guitars corroborating to reveal a clean melody that at points hits a nice
head bopping groove.
The violins in particular continue a trend started by the
likes of Clean Bandit of incorporating and highly featuring traditional
classical music with an electronic, 21st century feel. I can
certainly feel this style chosen here and it is one that, although reaching some
success, could still use someone like Strangers You Know bringing more attention
to the sound.
However, the one element in the composition which I find lacking is the vocals and lyrics. They simply don’t stand aside the other more
grandiose elements in the song and a lot of the time it feels like they fade
into the background a great deal. I feel like the best of Strangers You Know
will be seen if they team with a more commanding vocal that can stand aside and
use the composition to help sculpt an excellent all round song both musically
and vocally.
Despite this I can hear a lot of potential in Strangers You
Know and remain excited for their EP on March 11th.
Listen to the single “Used” here : https://soundcloud.com/strangersyouknow/used
Dominic Allan.
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