Hot off the back of the recent single ‘Only Feel It When I’m With You’ featuring Jezabels singer Hayley Mary, and the announcement of their second full length album, Baby Strange return with new single ‘Poor Old Me’. The track’s huge chorus is married with an explosion of rhythm and syncopation, which only add to the growing anticipation of the band’s brand new album ‘World Below’, scheduled for release 17 June via Icons Creating Evil Art. Baby Strange continue to demonstrate their knack for bringing together a broad range of influences, from post-punk to pop, and creating one hell of a hook.
In-keeping with the album’s dark undercurrent, ‘Poor Old Me’ sees vocalist and guitarist Johnny Madden reflecting upon personal struggles with his mental health and the crippling sinking feeling that so many can relate to: “Is there a reason that I feel so down? // With my head in my hands as I’m lying in pain on the ground // Sometimes I feel I wanna run away // Feels like a Monday on a Saturday”
“Poor Old Me is a song about self-deprecation,” says Johnny of the track. “It’s something I’ve put myself through over the years, for me it all links back to suffering from depression and anxiety. This song means a lot to me, I’m really putting my heart on my sleeve with this one and I’m sure a lot of people out there will relate to what I’m saying.”
‘World Below’ is 10 songs that pull the listener through a myriad of textures, sounds & emotions, completed with an array of artwork that generates a visual accompaniment for the topics set out within. Brought to life by Glasgow-based visual animator Bovine, the artwork explores the ‘World Below’ as an alternative reality that offers an insight into the bitter promises of late stage capitalism. Written as a reaction to how the pandemic has played havoc with mental health, the increasingly visible class divide and the meteoric rise of food banks across the country, ‘World Below’ is an album that explores the paradox of the topics set out within. It’s a narrative on the seemingly alternate universe we suddenly find ourselves living in, which has in fact become our new reality.
ALBUM TRACKLIST:
1. World Below
2. Beating In Time
3. Under The Surface
4. Only Feel It When I’m With You (ft. Hayley Mary)
5. Poor Old Me
6. When It Calls
7. Higher
8. 0141
9. I Feel So Cold But It’s Warm Outside
10. Midnight
‘WORLD BELOW’ UK TOUR:
16 Sept Aberdeen The Tunnels
17 Sept Huddersfield Venn Street Social
18 Sept Manchester Night & Day
20 Sept Brighton The Hope & Ruin
21 Sept London Shacklewell Arms
22 Sept Bournemouth 60 Million Postcards
24 Sept Bristol The Lanes