Guns ‘n’ Roses took 17 years to make Chinese Democracy. Real Life Stories, the second album by Birmingham-based band The Strangest Feeling, took a mere eight years to arrive, and it’s absolutely worth the comparatively brief wait. The band made their first musical connections while working as artists at Musical Connections, a music and wellbeing network coordinated by Quench Arts for adults living across Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell. As origin stories go, it’s hardly rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s lovely and we like it.
The Strangest Feeling are Steve Ison (lead vocals & guitar), Paul Carroll (drums), Pete Churchill (bass & all sorts), and Nicola McAteer (cello). They are masterful purveyors of the chamber pop genre, which is notable for its combination of rock music with the intricate use of strings, piano, and vocal harmonies.
Real Life Stories opens with‘Big World Rebound’, which includes a Blondie-like bassline and big chords à la The Cult, and ends up sounding like a combination of Belle and Sebastian and Deacon Blue. Next track ‘Happy Day’ can be described as ‘Thom Yorke does rockabilly’. If Belle and Sebastian had released ‘Wurlitzer’, Stuart Maconie would be demanding an instant interview with Stuart Murdoch. This gorgeous, string-laden song reminded me of the lowkey euphoria of Assistant’s 2024 album Certain Memories, and Steve Ison’s vocals are as sweet and uplifting as Euros Childs’.
The harmonies on title track ‘Real Life Stories’ would make the Beach Boys jealous. ‘Laila’s Home’ is a time signature-shifting, harmony-drenched acoustic stomper. ‘Unchained Memories’ is such a blissfully perfect example of chamber pop, it should be on the Music GCSE syllabus. On ‘We’ve Come To The End’, Steve Ison sings ‘la la la’ like a giddy Jim Kerr from Simple Minds. Nicola McAteer’s cello at the start of ‘Freed By Morning’ could be the entrance music for a medieval king. Halfway through the track, Pete Churchill plays the piano with the glee of a highly-gifted lottery winner, and the foreboding cello at the end is reminiscent of ‘Unlock The Doors’ by English folk legends Moulettes.
‘The Locksmith’ starts with a Sugababes-like fade-in, though this is no electronic pop smash, but a mischievous acoustic tale about someone “helping himself to your heart and your mind”. If Amelie soundtrack genius Yann Tiersen did reggae, would it sound like ‘New Year’s Eve’ by The Strangest Feeling? Yes. Yes, it would. Album closer ‘Days Of Endless Change’ is propelled by Paul Carroll’s military-style drumming, slows down for a jazz club interlude, then ends with an encouragement to “taste the morning sun”.
And, as chance would have it, that is my contrived cue to urge you to experience The Strangest Feeling. They’re the sort of band that you discover at a festival and want to immediately tell all your friends about. Real Life Stories was launched at last month’s Music on the Roof Festival in Balsall Heath. Maybe the next album could be launched at, say, Worcester Music Festival? No pressure…but let’s not take another eight years, yeah?
Real Life Stories is out now on Bandcamp.
By: Neil Laurenson