Strange Ranger can’t stand still. The quartet is always shifting and evolving, whether it’s through cross-country moves or making a sharp departure from their sonic roots. They’re in constant motion, which makes them adaptable and agile in ways that other bands just aren’t. They’re fearless in the face of change and defined by their refusal to stay stagnant. On their latest album Pure Music, out now via Fire Talk, they once again seek out a new version of themselves that’s even more entrancing than the one they shed.
A band that’s been through their fair share of phases, whether it’s the lovestruck shine of Remember the Rockets or the emo-adjacent indie-rock that defined their time as Sioux Falls, they have no problem ripping it up and starting again. They have become adept at reinventing themselves, not for shock value but because they genuinely master any genre they attempt. They live to surprise you, to fake out the listener, to flit from one sound to the next with no warning so they can keep you wondering. While 2021’s No Light in Heaven hinted at the electro-pop leanings on Pure Music, what they’ve delivered here is so sleek and spacious it’s hard to believe this was their first stab at crafting an album that combines their collective obsession with the shoegaze staple Loveless and NYC rave scene DJ’s like The Dare (who prior to his smash hit “Girls” was credited with mixing 2019’s Remembering The Rockets).
From these estranged influences comes a crash-course in escapism; a collection of 10 interconnected tracks that bleed into each other; a sonic blur that makes time feel like a flimsy concept in the face of the zapping synths. It’s a phenomenon akin to the psychology behind removing clocks from casinos, you’re supposed to lose your grip a little bit in order to become chemically dizzy and disoriented. In Strange Ranger’s case, they achieve this through the ethereal echoes of Fiona Woodman’s vocals and distorted samples from YouTube videos that serve as synapses between songs. They usher in a willful oblivion through their all-consuming soundscapes, evident even on early singles like “Rain So Hard” with its mesmerizing ebb and flow.
Still, as removed from real life as Pure Music may feel, it’s undoubtedly an album that only could be made in New York City. On “Way Out,” you can feel the urban sprawl and imposing skyscrapers through the switchblade rhythm, but all 10 songs have the same hum of electricity and promise of endless opulence and opportunities that come with the crossed wires and missed connections of city living. There’s something evocative of the recent indie-sleaze revival that pulses throughout the sprightly beats and unabashed dance influence on songs like “Dazed in the Shallows.” They’re purveyors of a new underground, of secret worlds that only they can guide you through which twinkle and shine with the luster of innovation derived from their ceaseless experimentation.
While the majority of the album exists in the parallel reality that prompts Woodman to ask, “Is this all happening?,” there are glitches that let in earthly flashes of emotion, though they come thinly disguised under the glare of strobe lights like on “Blue Shade,” as the dual vocals of Woodman and Isaac Eiger profess “Heaven is lost and found in open range / Higher love in cyclic ultraviolet waves / And your memory is a roadblock in my way.” These moments of yearning splice the albums’ surrealism, sometimes serving as the sole tie to what’s going on outside of the insular experience of Pure Music. It’s like the blinding lips and glinting steel bars on “Wide Awake”: What appears to be random imagery is meant to wake you from the deluge of lush rhythms and remind you that all of this is real.
That being said, it’s almost impossible to not surrender to the sweeping bliss of Strange Ranger. The risk they took with their complete metamorphosis paid off, further solidifying them as a band with talent that transcends genres and states. Though, they were great before they pushed themselves to excel in uncharted waters, too, as they’ve gone on a limb that few would so willingly walk out on. However, it is this ability to brazenly relinquish the past that indicates their bright future, one that we could never guess the shape of, as they like to keep their cards close and their tricks up their sleeve. But whatever direction that germinates into will no doubt be as spellbinding and transformative as Pure Music.
Read our recent interview with Strange Ranger here.
