Bartees Strange – “Sober”

There’s a new Bartees Strange album on the way. It’s called Horror, and he’s dressed like Blade on the cover. Also, he’s got a Misfits-style devilock in the press pic. There’s plenty more to be said about it, but that should already be enough to get you amped. Strange, who popped up at Julien Baker’s DC show for a dueling guitar solo last weekend, is an boundary-blurring indie rocker of the highest order. If he’s going all Elvira on his follow-up to 2022’s Farm To Table, that’s fucking awesome.

Bartees Strange’s Horror is coming early next year, and the LP is inspired by Strange’s experience growing up queer and Black in Oklahoma — being afraid and being feared. Strange recorded it with assistance from Yves and Lawrence Rothman and from Jack Antonoff. The LP features the previously released single “Lie 95,” as well as the new one “Sober.” Here’s what Strange says about the LP:

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 co-produced the new song “Sober” with the Rothmans and Antonoff. It’s a delicately chugging ’80-style heartland rocker, and it’s the closest thing to a War On Drugs song that I’ve ever heard from Bartees Strange. Here’s what Strange says about the song:

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 always deal with because you never really saw a better example of how love works.

The Ricardo Betancourt-directed “Sober” video is inspired by a performance that Sly & The Family Stone gave on Soul Train in 1974. Below, check out that clip, the Horror tracklist, and the few live shows that Strange has announced for next year.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Too Much”
02 “Hit It Quit It”
03 “Sober”
04 “Baltimore”
05 “Lie 95”
06 “Wants, Needs”
07 “Lovers”
09 “Doomsday Buttercup”
10 “17”
11 “Loop Defenders”
12 “Norf Gun”
13 “Backseat Banton”

TOUR DATES:
2/13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Paramount
2/15 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
2/19 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
2/26 – London, UK @ Oslo Hackney

Horror is out 2/14 on 4AD.