Stray

Description

The first thing that strikes you about Stray, Bambaras fourth and greatest album to date, will be its pulverizing soundscape. By turns, vast, atmospheric, cool, broiling and, at times on stand out tracks like Sing Me To The Street and Serafina simply overwhelming.

However, Stray is not merely another, better entry in a catalogue full of darkly thrilling, blistering experimental rock-via-punk. Rather, early on in its conception the band made the decision to experiment with new compositions and song structures. The resulting addition of backing vocals from Drew Citron (Public Practice) and Anina Ivory- Block (Palberta) create a hauntingly beautiful contrast to Batehs drunken baritone on tracks like Sing Me To The Street, Death Croons and Stay Cruel, while the Dick Dale-inspired guitar riffs on Serafina and Heat Lightning and the call-and-response choruses throughout the album showcase Bambaras ability to write songs that immediately demand repeat listens.

These are just a few of the changes that reveal this album to be the monumental step forward that it is. Here Bambara finally sound like theyve locked into what they were always destined to achieve, and the effect is nothing short of electrifying.

Bambara twin brothers Reid and Blaze Bateh, singer/guitarist and drummer respectively and bassist William Brookshire have been evolving their midnight-black noise into something more subtle and expansive ever since the release of their 2013 debut Dreamviolence. That process greatly accelerated on 2018s Shadow On Everything, their first for New Yorks Wharf Cat Records and a huge stride forward for the band both lyrically and sonically.

Beautifully dynamic nightmare NPR

One of my favourite things I finally saw for the first time at South By this year Steve Lamacq

Very few artists these days make rock and roll as threatening as Bambara Loud And Quiet

An abrasive, awesome ripper Treble

Available to independent retailers on clear vinyl.