By Darren Grayer.
English born American artist Bartees Strange returned to The Joiners on Tuesday after appearing at the venue in 2023. Having just completed nearly a month touring Europe, this is the third of four nights in the UK, before heading back to the states.
Back in February, Strange released his third studio album, Horror, to much critical acclaim, and his music encompasses a range of sounds and genres that keep the listener firmly interested.
Although Horror is sure to feature heavily in the set, Bartees opens with Mullholland DR from the 2022 album Farm To Table, with its gently finger picked electric guitar intro leading into a shimmering piece of rousing pop, that is met with immediate appreciation.
Lie 95 and Wants Needs are both from Horror. The former sees Strange reflecting on the search for love and possible consequences of finding it, while the latter is an out and out rocker that shows the skills of his three backing band members off in fine style, particularly the incredibly tight rhythm section.
Mustang continues the full-on pace of the set and is one of the standout moments from Strange’s debut album, Live Forever, followed by stand-alone single Big Glow.
Horror then takes centre stage and it’s easy to see why the critical acclaim for it has been widespread. Sober is another reflective soul-searching song that lends itself to The War On Drugs sound of heartland Americana, while Baltimore is a song written about Strange’s hometown and thoughts about life in America-
“Philadelphia always shows love, DC’s nice but the summers are tough, New York City just cost too much. I’m thinking about the lives I don’t have”.
17 highlights the range of vocal depth Strange possesses, showing his soulful side with a stunning falsetto delivery that still maintains the theme of facing fear running through the entire album, and album opener Too Much sees Strange show how rap music has played a part in his sound.
His self-admitted love of The National and TV On The Radio are definitely references that nod to the overall sound of Bartees Strange, but the way in which it’s delivered is very much his own. Heavy Heart, opening track from 2022’s Farm To Table and next up tonight is a fine example of that.
Backseat Banton, final track on the Horror album, provides the closer to a riveting 12 song set that not only highlights the skills of Bartees Strange as a songwriter and guitarist, but also his gifted backing band, who were nothing short of excellent.
“I’m a backseat lover, now I want to drive” states Bartees in the first line of the song.
I would suggest the car has been driven quite beautifully this evening.
On what turned out to be another magnificent value for money night at The Joiners, the audience were treated to two other bands before the headline act. Local acts Petty Squabbles and Picture House were both excellent in completely contrasting ways. Both three-pieces, the former playing a short powerhouse of a set that sat somewhere between grunge and power pop, nicely driven along by shared vocals between guitarist and bass player.
Picture House provided an altogether more gentle guitar driven sound that lent itself to jangling Americana with elements of shoegaze/dreampop, and impressive vocal harmonies and melodies.
Fair to say, a good night all round!
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