Stricken City - Songs About People I Know

At first glance, it’ rather easy to dismiss London’s Stricken City. Long legged front woman with artsy flamingo/peacock hybrid of a headdress, young, British men with instruments behind her. You know, yet another fashionable foursome attempting to forge their way into the comical forays of pop music. Boring.

But, here at BRM, we don’t like to judge prematurely.All books are read, regardless of their covers, and analyzed intelligently (or whatever). Good thing, too, because one listen of Stricken City’s delightful pop debut Songs About People I Know, immediately disproved most of the nay-sayer assumptions I‘d made.

From the opening track, the self-proclaimed mini album (it runs at a surprisingly short but sweet 30 minutes) begs to differentiate itself from all the other indie acts across the pond.

Instead of reeling in the listener with a sickeningly catchy opener, Songs About People I Know starts off with one of its most intimate moments. “Gifted,” a haunting a cappella, cooed by the very gifted herself Rebekah Raa in the midst of a fuzzy background, barely constitutes 30% of the album’s length, yet it poignantly manages to present both Raa’s vocal talents as well as the band’s maturity; they understand how refreshing it can be to hear a beautiful voice, on its own, without the embellishments of other instruments, synthesizers, or reverb.

However, Stricken City knows its strengths, and the rest of the album mostly focuses on their excellent pop sensibilities. “Pull The House Down,” which follows the lovely “Gifted,” is a relentlessly catchy tune, driven by Michael Hyland’s jazzy bass line and Kit Godfrey’s timely snare drumming.

The foursome continue with “Tak O Tak” and “Small Things,” two songs that succeed in mixing Iain Pettifer’s playful guitar riffs, key touches of the synth, and powerfully sung verses into delectable pop songs. “Small Things” in particular displays what some have been comparing to a prepubescent Bjork as Raa melodically yelps into the microphone consecutively. Mid-album, “Killing Time” takes the drama up a notch with angular guitar lines and repeating vocals that slowly build, meeting an abrupt ending without ever actually exploding into a fury of sound - something that tends to sound anti-climactic on most songs but is done just right by Stricken City.

The album brings back the intimacy of the opener with “Sometimes I Love You/Sometimes I Hate You,” a minute and 53 second love song that replaces the hooks of the aforementioned tracks with a beautiful French accordion and lines full of romanticism (“Take me to Paris on a one way trip, you might find spontaneity addictive”). “The Traveller” and the album closer, “Terrible Things” do the same, taking the ear candy material of their predecessors and slowing it down with beautiful piano lines.

What’s so striking about Stricken City, however, is not that they like to revel in versatility - lots of bands do that. It is the precise musicianship with which they do it that’s exciting. In a mere half hour, Songs About People I Know, manages to satisfy the listener’s quench for pop. Which is a hell of a lot better than an hour long release full of blunders. That headdress, it will grow on you.

-Nadia Collado

Release date: 11/3/2009

Record Label: The Kora