Me and You – The Strange Boys // Buy
The Strange Boys’ latest release, Live Music, finds its niche in the unexpected. The vaguely punk nature of Ryan Sambol’s voice, combined with the music’s clear influence from country and blues, create songs that sound as though Elvis Presley sang them half a century ago. Sambol’s voice is easily one of the album’s greatest strengths, giving the vintage instrumental sounds a harder edge. Imagine the Arctic Monkeys (minus the British accent) or The Strokes (minus the alt rock guitars) plus some good old-fashioned harmonica, piano and soul.
Despite the fresh sound on their latest album, The Strange Boys definitely aren’t new to the music scene. The project formed in the early 00’s while Sambol was still in high school and later expanded to include his brother Phillip along with a rotating cast of friends. Having since gotten the opportunity to tour with acts such as Julian Casablancas, Fucked Up, Deerhunter, Spoon and others, the band has developed and tightened their sound a great deal. Much of this live performance experience is also obvious on the latest release. In fact, Sambol specifically mentioned in an interview with Noisevox that many songs on the record were a product of their time on the road.
The album is split up into two-sides, the first recorded in April at the home of Jim Eno (drummer for Spoon) and the second recorded a year ago at the same studio used for their sophomore release, Be Brave. There are palpable differences between sides A and B — the former is laden with upbeat, hook-heavy tracks such as album highlights “Me And You” and “Walking Two By Two”, and the latter is a more downplayed, reflected collection of songs that showcase Ryan Sambol’s poignant lyricism. Though side B slows down the album, songs such as “Over The River And Through The Woulds” and “You Take Everything For Granite When You’re Stone” are definitely not to be ignored.