BARTEES STRANGE
ANNUNCIA IL TERZO ALBUM
HORROR
IN USCITA IL 14 FEBBRAIO VIA 4AD
GUARDA IL VIDEO DEL SINGOLO
SOBER
Strange è cresciuto nella paura. La sua famiglia gli raccontava storie spaventose per insegnargli lezioni di vita e lui guardava film horror per esercitarsi a essere forte. Il mondo può essere un luogo terrificante e per un giovane nero e queer dell'America rurale, quel terrore può essere viscerale. Horror è un album che parla di come affrontare queste paure e di come crescere per diventare qualcuno che si rispetti.
Strange ha iniziato a lavorare su Horror nel suo studio di casa con un occhio alla produzione. Una sessione con Yves e Lawrence Rothman (Yves Tumor, Lady Gaga) ha generato la base ritmica e sonora per alcune parti del disco. Dopo che Strange ha incontrato Jack Antonoff, i due sono diventati subito amici. Strange ha lavorato su materiale della band di Antonoff, i Bleachers, e Antonoff ha lavorato su Horror. I due hanno terminato il disco insieme, lavorando le canzoni in modo grezzo, modificandole, arrangiandole e vestendole con abiti destinati a incutere timore.
Nel corso del disco, Strange espone una verità difficile dopo l'altra, il tutto su una miscela sonora di musica che ha fatto da colonna sonora alla sua infanzia.
Nelle 12 tracce inedite dell'album, i fili della musica che suo padre gli ha fatto conoscere (Parliament Funkadelic, Fleetwood Mac, Teddy Pendergrass e Neil Young) si intrecciano con l'interesse di Strange per l'hip-hop, il country, l'indie rock e l'house.
Today, Bartees Strange announces his third full-length album, Horror, to be released on 14 February 2025. His most ambitious and wide-ranging project to date is the follow-up to 2022’s Farm To Table.
Today, a new single ‘Sober’ is released, produced by Strange, Jack Antonoff, Yves Rothman and Lawrence Rothman. Strange says, “This song is about falling short in a relationship, over and over and drinking because of it. I think this is something a lot of people can probably relate to. Being in love, but not being the best at showing it or feeling successful within it. And being afraid that this is something you’ll just always deal with because you never really saw a better example of how love works.” The single is paired with a music video directed by Ricardo Betancourt that draws inspiration from Sly & The Family Stone’s 1974 Soul Train performance. Horror also features the recently released explosive single ‘Lie 95’.
HEAR / WATCH ‘SOBER’
Strange says of Horror – “In a way I think I made this record to reach out to people who may feel afraid of things in their lives too. For me it’s love, locations, cosmic bad luck, or that feeling of doom that I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember. I think that it’s easier to navigate the horrors and strangeness of life once you realize that everyone around you feels the same. This album is just me trying to connect. I’m trying to shrink the size of the world. I’m trying to feel close - so I’m less afraid.”
In the time since Farm to Table, Strange toured alongside boygenius, Clairo, Dijon and The National. In February 2025, he will play a series of album release performances in New York, Los Angeles, London and Washington D.C. Spring tour dates to be announced.
Born in Ipswich, England to a military father and opera-singer mother, Bartees Strange had a peripatetic childhood before eventually settling in Mustang, Oklahoma. Later, Bartees cut his teeth playing in hardcore bands in Washington D.C. and Brooklyn whilst working in the Barack Obama administration and the environmental justice movement. Recently, his music has been featured on multiple popular TV and film soundtracks including Apple TV’s The New Look and A24’s I Saw The TV Glow. He will also appear on the upcoming Red Hot compilation, Transa, covering TV On The Radio’s ‘Wolf Like Me’ with Kara Jackson and labelmate Anjimile.
Released on 14 February 2025, Horror will be available digitally, on CD, standard black vinyl, transparent vinyl (indie retail and artist store only) and red vinyl (Dinked exclusive edition) which will include a bonus 7” of new songs ‘Like This’ and ‘Pigs Fly’. For pre-order information head
here.
Camilla Di Chiara