Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
This week saw the release of the third EP from the London, U.K.’s Strauss, titled ‘Falena‘, and today’s Review & Stream tackles the band’s ongoing evolution.
There have been some massive changes in Strauss, both musically and member-wise, since we heard from them last on 2015’s ‘Luia’. Reduced from a quintet to a quartet, returning vocalist Stef Sacchetto and guitarist Charles Fusari are now joined by a new rhythm section. That would be bassist Mark Lotz and drummer Seb Tull.
The most notable metamorphosis for the band is their turn to more aggressive elements in their new output. An edgier heaviness manifests in the punk-tainted vocals, their rawer – at times shouted or screamed – delivery works nicely. Songs like “2016” and the funky groove-laden “J.B. Taylor” reflect this immediately.
The enjoyable thing here is the fluid melding of headier, psychedelic textures – like the aforementioned “J.B. Taylor” – or the all-out funk simmer of the Deftones-meets-Faith No More “Pantomime“. This song’s detours into post-hardcore and noise rock realms may leave you totally unprepared for what follows next.
That would be the super tight-knit rolling rumble of the stellar “Lit Corners“. The allure of this track is irresistible, a stand-out song that I can make comparative connections to as broad-ranging from Mucky Pup to Crobot.
The radiant hybrid of this genre-fusing soup has a powerfully resonating effect. Strauss‘ ‘Falena‘ EP is audio alchemy of the finest persuasions, and the scope of them ultimately demonstrates that change can be good… damn good indeed.
Purchase ‘Falena‘ at this location.
