The Strange Walls - ... Won't Last [Alrealon Musique 072]

If there's any label out there that provides a home for what can be described as incredibly strange music it must be the multinational imprint Alrealon Musique which is now about to release "...Won't Last", the new album by the experimental NYC-based project The Strange Walls. Scheduled for October 31st, 2k16  we see the longplay piece provide a string of twelve songs - a journey that starts with the seductive, yet beatless PostPunk- / PostIndie-effort "The Sleeping Cage", turns into distorted, garage'esque Noise'N'Roll slightly reminiscent of Lolita Storm's legendary rrriot grrl-attitude in the so-called 'Attrition Mix' of  "The Girl On Mandragora" before "The Torch Song" brings us some excellent, vocoder-driven Desert Blues vibes mixed up with a touch of a folksy feel. Listening to their "Wartime Melody" we feel a warm, all embracing blur like the smoke-filled air of our favorite underground bar, "Sit And Sway" brings back influences of lonesome Post Punk and experimental (No)Wave that might well appear to The Cure-fans in their most desperate moments whilst followers of the Danish band outfit Darkness Falls which also happen to love Siouxsie & The Banshees are about to fall for the captivating slomo anthem that is "In Time" - surely one of the strongest songs to be found this album. Going into "Hateful Hollow" we find ourselves immersed in a short, haunting and soundscape'ish skit of Lynch'esque qualities, "White" leads us onto the dancefloor where we're supposed to loose ourselves to Regina Yates' fragile and brittle vocal beauty accompanying a yet melancholic but also uplifting instrumental backdrop quite fascinating in its contrasting qualities and "Snow Day" is the kind of song resonating with lovers of Artschool Indie experimentalisms, PostRock - think labels like Morr Music or Alien Transistor here -  and Psychedelia for a reason.  Furthermore the seven+ minute spanning "Yadwons" creates a dreamlike, druggy atmosphere through a collage of yearning accordion tones and seemingly field recorded bits and pieces, the colour transition from "Grey To Red" offers a lo-fi, surely Cosmic-influenced and well spaced out approach to Synth Wave with angelic vocals before finally the untitled, and unlisted, bonus track concludes this touching and defo recommended album in a way that makes us hope that The Strange Walls will last at least.

Album artwork on Instagram!