Written by Killian O’Neil
Alternative rock band, STRFKR, shares their new record, Future Past Life, out now.
The intimacy of the lyrics is raw and broken down. The melodies are mind-altering and take you entirely to a different place, which right now is exactly what everyone needs. This album covers it all in many different aspects. You don’t need to just like one genre of music, it has a bit for everybody.
Two of my favorite songs off their new album which stook out to me are “Dear Stranger” and “Never The Same.” Both of which took me back to my roots of music. I would normally throw on any given day and jam out too. This album is something you want to blast on a night to just chill out or a summer day while outside. Either way, it will make you want to dance and have you feeling something, which seems hard to do these days with music.
As much as I do love this album, I also feel that most of every song almost sounds the same. The production is repetitive and it all blends after a while. I sometimes found myself listening to a song wondering if it was Portugal. The Man or MGMT. Every album has it’s good and bad points. I don’t think with art there is such a thing as perfection hell in life there isn’t perfection.
Overall, it’s a good album, but some things I felt were missing to set it aside from every other psychedelic indie rock band out there. I enjoyed the lyrics and the spin they put on them with the insane amount of synthesizers and Elliott Smith‘s vibe.
Do me a favor and yourself a favor go listen to “Dear Stranger” right now. If you cannot do it right now, do it before you go to bed. This is one of my favorite songs on this album. Something different has set this one apart from the rest. I feel as though with “Dear Stranger” you get everything all encompassed in one. There is a wave of synth that’s so effortless and a splash of acoustic guitar with these upbeat yet deep lyrics that anyone can resonate with.
“Never The Same” was my second favorite song on this album. I listened to this song maybe ten times over not only but because of the lyrics but how it was unusually matched with what reminded me of an Elliott Smith song.
Unlike “Dear Stranger” this song wasn’t upbeat and happy. It was raw and vulnerable and emotional. It teetered on the line of depressing but It had a depth to it that has been missing in music. Both “Never The Same” and “Dear Stranger” have qualities that make you remember why you love music and transport you to an entirely different time.
Either way, I would give Future Past Life a B+ at worst, but who am I to judge? Try it out for yourself! So go push play, light a joint and close your eyes and ride the wave of your imagination and see where you wind up.
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