When [STRANGERS] were first featured on Popservations last month, I was entranced by their atmospheric cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games.” Today, the English trio merits another mention, as they’ve issued their third EP of 2011. (Yes, [STRANGERS] pulled a Robyn this year.)
[STRANGERS]’ imaginatively titled EP3 sports a trio of original tunes, including lead track, “Promises.” Marking the band’s first duet, frontman David Maddox-Jones is joined on vocals by Lara Smiles for this mini melodrama that surveys the wreckage of a failed relationship. While the theme may be nothing new, the song’s construction offers an inventive take on typical “he said, she said” testimony, with Maddox-Jones and Smiles singing mostly in unison, both parties leveling the same charges at each other.
Words may be meaningless, but the darkly epic “Promises” is unforgettable:
[STRANGERS]’ lyrical hat-tip to Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence” doesn’t seem entirely unintentional, as they’ve reportedly completed a remix of the synthpop classic.
Purchase [STRANGERS] – “Promises” (feat. Lara Smiles) via iTunes, Amazon MP3. Listen to EP3 in full via their SoundCloud page.