Today Bartees Strange announces his third album, ‘Horror‘, which will be released on February 14, 2025 via 4AD/Beggars. It is the successor to his 2022 album ‘Farm To Table’ and his most ambitious and versatile project to date.
Also released today is a new single, ‘Sober‘, produced by Strange, Jack Antonoff, Yves Rothman and Lawrence Rothman. Strange about the new single: “This song is about falling short in a relationship, over and over and drinking because of it. I think this is something a lot of people can probably relate to. Being in love, but not being the best at showing it or feeling successful within it. And being afraid that this is something you’ll just always deal with because you never really saw a better example of how love works.” The single is accompanied by a video directed by Ricardo Betancourt, which takes inspiration from Sly & The Family Stone’s 1974 Soul Train performance.
Strange grew up with fear. His family told him scary stories to teach life lessons, and at a young age he started watching scary movies to practice being strong. The world can be a scary place, and for a young, queer person of color in rural America, that fear can be very palpable. ‘Horror‘ is an album about facing those fears and growing into someone one is afraid of.
Strange about his new album ‘Horror’: “In a way I think I made this record to reach out to people who may feel afraid of things in their lives too. For me it’s love, locations, cosmic bad luck, or that feeling of doom that I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember. I think that it’s easier to navigate the horrors and strangeness of life once you realize that everyone around you feels the same. This album is just me trying to connect. I’m trying to shrink the size of the world. I’m trying to feel close – so I’m less afraid.”
Strange started ‘Horror’ in his home studio with a focus on production. A session with Yves and Lawrence Rothman (Yves Tumor, Lady Gaga) provided a rhythmic and sonic foundation for large parts of the record. After Strange met Jack Antonoff and they became fast friends, Strange worked on material for Antonoff’s band Bleachers, while Antonoff collaborated on ‘Horror’. Together, the duo completed the album, keeping the songs raw, editing them, arranging them and dressing them up in a style that inspires fear. Throughout the album, Strange reveals uncomfortable truths, against a musical backdrop reminiscent of his youth. The 12 new tracks feature cross-genre elements of the music his father showed him – such as Parliament Funkadelic, Fleetwood Mac, Teddy Pendergrass and Neil Young – mixed with Strange’s own interests in hip-hop, country, indie rock and house.
Born in Ipswich, England, the son of a soldier and an opera singer, Bartees Strange had a wandering childhood before finally settling in Mustang, Oklahoma. Later, Bartees gained experience in hardcore bands in Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn, while working in Barack Obama’s administration and in the environmental justice movement. Most recently, his music has been included in several popular TV and film soundtracks, including Apple TV’s ‘The New Look’ and A24’s ‘I Saw The TV Glow’. He will also appear on the upcoming Red Hot compilation, ‘Transa’, with a cover of TV On The Radio’s ‘Wolf Like Me’, alongside Kara Jackson and labelmate Anjimile.
Tracklist “Horror”
1. Too Much
2. Hit It Quit It
3. Sober
4. Baltimore
5. Lie 95
6. Wants, Needs
7. Lovers
8. Doomsday Buttercup
9. 17
10. Looped Defenders
11. Norf Gun
12. Backseat Banton
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