Being No One, Going Nowhere

Album review

After a group effort on the band-penned Miracle Mile, STRFKR took a different approach to their fourth LP. The bulk of the album was written in isolation by bandleader Joshua Hodges during a desert retreat to Joshua Tree. With a goal to "be in the moment," he reported embracing the feeling of being insignificant that comes with that territory. The resulting set of songs lays the foundation of Being No One, Going Nowhere, which also includes a track by drummer Keil Corcoran ("In the End") and input throughout from Corcoran and bass player Shawn Glassford. The more refined sound and reflective tone of their prior album carries over onto Being No One, Going Nowhere, and there's still no shortage of club-friendly grooves. "Satellite" rides syncopated bass, beats reinforced by claps, chilly synths, and warmer guitar through Hodges' delivery, airy and composed as he sings "Fall away from the edge of the world/Where I’m fine on my own." Things get a little glitchier on "Maps," while "Dark Days" turns out to be one of the brighter tracks, at least musically, with melodic bleeps and a driving four-on-the-floor. Opener "Tape Machine" was written for another project with friends in Amsterdam rather than in seclusion. It offers trippy funk-pop with sci-fi laser sound effects that manage to play right into the wistful tone it still produces, in keeping with the album ("I know your darkness better than you think"). Overall darker but still motivated by dance, Being No One, Going Nowhere hits a sophisticated balance of light and heavy, unsettled and hooky, feet and temper, with an electro-post-punk sheen that altogether seems very much of its time.

© Marcy Donelson /TiVo