Released: July 21st 2023
3.5/5
Having spent considerable time deep diving into electronic production since their 2019 release Remembering the Rockets, New York’s Strange Ranger flex these new techniques from the outset on Pure Music. The album is a self-admitted indulgence and obsession with My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, meaning there’s a heady barrage of guitar squall, but this is carefully pierced with disco and house beats.
The prevailing sound is one of clubby haze and myoclonic jerk, a startled mix of cinematic familiarity. Blue Shade takes skittering dance-rock and Issac Eiger’s baritone into Violator-era Depeche Mode, while both Rain So Hard and She’s On Fire reflect back melancholic dancefloor euphoria, breakups and the solitary journey home. Dazed in the Shallows’ rapturous groove closes the album exhilarated, however temporary that high might be.
https://strangeranger.bandcamp.com/
