[STRANGERS]‘ atmospheric take on Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” ranked third on Popservations’ Top 25 Cover Songs of 2011, and though we’re only three weeks into 2012, they’re well on their way to securing a spot on the next year-end tally.

This time, the tune in the London trio’s sights isn’t of such recent vintage, but rather an ’80s classic, Tears For Fears’ “Shout,” a song that reached #4 on the UK charts twenty-seven years ago this month. That summer, the song crossed the pond to become Tears For Fears’ second consecutive (and final) #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

Earlier this month, while writing tracks for their debut album due this year, [STRANGERS] recorded Tears For Fears’ “Shout” on a whim. Frontman David Maddox-Jones tells Popservations of their pick, “We’ve obviously got a connection with that ’80s sound that Tears For Fears had. I think ‘Shout’ is such a powerful song, and I guess it could signify us ‘letting it all out,’ ready to take on 2012, and make it a STRANGE year.”

Cheers to that, as I’ve got big love for [STRANGERS], who released a trio of EPs last year. This magnetic cover of “Shout,” with its edgy industrial bent, makes the anticipation of the band’s new original material grow even stronger.

Claire Coulton of EMPIRE, who Maddox-Jones describes as the band’s muse, crafted the visual accompaniment for “Shout”:

Free download of [STRANGERS] – “Shout” (Tears For Fears cover) by sending an email to bornstrangers[at]gmail.com

I’ve got a mildly amusing story to share about Tears For Fears’ “Shout.” My older sister was in high school back when the song was out, and at that time, I used to compile cassettes for her school dances (in effect, serving as the DJ, though I was too young to attend).

She’d left me a note requesting “Shout” to be included on the next playlist, though unbeknownst to me she’d meant a different “Shout” (a cover of The Isley Brothers’ song, as featured on the Animal House soundtrack). Flash forward to that Friday night, and about four awkward minutes as a gymnasium full of teens didn’t know what to do with their feet when Tears For Fears came blaring through the speakers instead. Though my sister obviously wasn’t very happy with me the next day, I lived to tell the tale.