No idea whether I’m coming or going this week, so ramblings about short things may well be in order. And what better short thing to ramble on about than this charming debut from the aptly named Local Strangers – a Mid-Western duo now at home in Seattle, and fitting in rather nicely with the area’s alt-country, alt-folky stylings.
The first thing that is apparent with this record is that, for a duo, there’s an awful lot going on by way of instruments. How this pans out onstage I have no idea – presumably lots of things grasped between knees. On record though, it’s all very polished and confident, and so tight-knit that the finished article belies the surprisingly short time between the Local Strangers’ inception and the release of this EP.
There’s all manner of good stuff going on in opener Hunted By Ghosts, slightly reminiscent of a teensy-bit more countrified My Jerusalem with its strong pop hooks and backing surf-trumpet, with Aubrey Zoli’s vocals providing just the right amount of Stevie Nicks-esque sass to give the whole affair a generation-spanning mix of 1970s/80s folk-rock bigness tempered with a more modern, gentle, and general alt-ness to the whole shebang, complimented with an almost preternatural sense of harmony with the duo’s other half in Matt Hart, something that runs throughout the record and that puts their stamp firmly on these four songs. Even at its most restrained during the plaintive All Along, it’s still rather busy, with the quiet swells of strings accompanying Matt’s guitar.
The definitive track of this EP though is the closer Partner in Crime, describing a possibly autobiographical meeting of minds that sums the Local Strangers up in a three and a half minute nutshell.
I suppose comparisons are somewhat inevitable with certain other North Western acts with a cheerful country-folksy outlook and harmonies coated in ambrosia, and it’s certainly a somewhat simplistic one to make, but the Local Strangers do share a fair bit of common musical ground (albeit with differing end products) with the Head and the Heart, and this is a comparison I make very happily as my ears are in a much happier place for having all of these guys sing into them. Hopefully, an equally upwards trajectory awaits Aubrey and Matt.
It’s a bit of a short review I know, but it’s only 15 minutes long and it’s all I can do to keep up with my typing. It’s definitely worth having a listen, and as it’s currently available for the princely sum of precisely sod-all money from their sepia-toned, informative and generally really friendly website.
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