Future Past Life

The origins of STRFKRs fifth long-player, Future Past Life, date back to before the release of their previous album, Being No One, Going Nowhere, when project leader Josh Hodges spent several months in Amsterdam in 2014. While he was there, he recorded with Mathias Janmat and David Hoogerheide, musicians he connected with on the recommendation of his European subletter back in the States. Hodges and his STRFKR bandmates later decided the material was too good to leave be, and they went to work on fleshing out the existing recordings. The resulting album is a more low-key affair that trades the high-contrast sound of Being No One for something more soft-focus, warped, and weary, while remaining in the realm of hooky synth pop. Most notably, the arrangements rely on acoustic guitar as well as synthesizers and bass, while drums for the most part are dialed down. Fans worried that this all sounds a little uninspired may be set at ease by the opening track, Dear Stranger, which kicks things off with a lively, syncopated bassline, skittering drums, siren, and humming synths. Trippy delay and weary vocals add a dream-like component to its new wave-y atmospheres. Much of the rest of the album maintains a dancey, somewhat druggy feel connected by a through line of spacy synth timbres and subtle pitch bends. Variations include Never the Same, which emphasizes strummed guitar over bass (at least until the third act), and Palm Reader, a spare, sleepy, Lennon-esque entry that omits the synths. Elsewhere, Pink Noise layers synthesizers, electric guitars, melodic components, orderly rhythms, and noise to gauzy effect, and Budapest is a grooving highlight that supplements Hodges airy vocal melody with a guest appearance by Polyvinyl labelmates Shy Boys. Dreamy but never dull, Future Past Life is a diversion for the band that still plays to their strengths. ~ Marcy Donelson