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Bartees Strange: Horror review – frustratingly timid genre-mashing experiment
With producer-to-the-stars Jack Antonoff on board, the anarchic American rocker offers glimpses of inspiration but fails to follow through
It may explain why Bartees Strange, the queer American rocker known for anarchic, genre-mashing indie, is now produced by Jack Antonoff, whose aesthetic is earnest, playlist-friendly craftsmanship. The quiet-LOUD-quiet trick is played repeatedly, although there’s little reward in taking savage left turns if you always end up in the same place. It doesn’t help that Strange’s squalling guitar is erratically mixed: on Wants Needs it hints at peak Thurston Moore, but it’s far too attenuated on Sober.
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