10 for 2012: #2 – Strangers
In the last couple weeks, we asked you to vote for the top 10 artists you thought would be big in 2012. The runner up on our list could give another band really popular in Europe a run for their money. Which band is it? You’ll have read on…
Strangers, as the band name suggests, want to be mysterious. Their sound? Clean, well developed dance anthems with a bit of a dark edge. And then there is another layer of intrigue. Some media have highlighted the fact that they have a New Romantic sound. Well, those are fightin’ words to a loud and proud Duranie like me who associates a certain look and aesthetic to the original New Romantic movement in the early ’80s in addition to the synth-heavy, hook-laden music that everyone wanted a piece of, thanks to the then-pioneering MTV. The main stumbling block for a band who is lumped in to a New Romantic genre is that even though the original New Romantic movement was commercially successful and the bands associated with it were very popular, there was quite a backlash afterwards, as if indulging in a little guilty pleasure pop was unbecoming.
Maybe slothfulness isn’t to blame for the clinical title of their EPs; I previously went on about when discussing their ‘EP3′: if you look on the band’s Facebook page, under the Info tab where band members’ full names are usually listed, all that is proffered is “Strangers”. This could be interpreted as sarcasm or droll wittiness, take your pick. I suppose it does lend a bit of mysticism without resorting to masks like Wu Lyf or handkerchiefs like Is Tropical. What is clear (besides their faces in plain view) is this is carefully polished dance pop with a real chance to have mainstream appeal. Check out this earlier song ‘In Chaos’ below.
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20th December 2011
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