Name: Look Alive
Brand: The Stroppies

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

CD-TLV-130

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2020-06-05

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

5055869547086

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

LP-TLV-130

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Green

Extended format: Yes

5055869547079

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1 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / green

Artist

The Stroppies

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

Tough Love

The Stroppies are an Australian indie pop/rock band based in Melbourne. With their catchy melodies and energetic performances, they have gained a loyal following both locally and internationally. Their unique sound blends elements of jangly guitars, infectious hooks, and heartfelt lyrics, creating music that is both nostalgic and fresh. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to their music, The Stroppies are sure to leave you wanting more.

Originally starting as the DIY home recording project of Angus Lord and Claudia Serfaty, The Stroppies have now evolved into what some might call a “proper band”. Following on from their 2017 demo cassette and a sling of singles, 2019 saw the release of their debut LP Whoosh!, a studio-based affair that evolved The Stroppies sound, underpinned with a newly discovered melodic classicism. Look Alive!, their latest effort which was recorded only months after the bands return to Australia after their second European tour of 2019, represents a marriage of the two different styles of Stroppies recordings and rounds out an incredibly productive twelve months for the group.

If Whoosh! glimmered and sparkled with tight production and succinct pop songwriting, Look Alive! is a somewhat darker shade, employing a more diffuse, impressionistic sonic palette and a more obvious penchant for experimentation. Tracked by the band and long time friend / collaborator Alex Macfarlane (Twerps, The Stevens, Hobbies Galore) at home and then mixed and mastered direct off the tape at Phaedra studios in Coburg by John Lee, it’s also a somewhat collaborative project, drawing in influence and inspiration from myriad sources.

Such means of production are evident in the resulting eight songs. The title track sees acoustic pianos duel with synthesizers over Pavement-esque guitar wig outs, whilst The Aisles of the Supermarket employs tape loops to forge loose ambient foundations. Though these ideas may reflect the band’s noted “stream of consciousness creativity”, remarkably the songwriting remains as sharp as ever. Album opener Burning Bright gallops forward with the propulsive energy of ‘77-era Talking Heads and is transported by a casually brilliant chorus delivered by shared vocalist Claudia Sefraty. Elsewhere, lead single Holes In Everything presents the band at its pop best: "If I could disappear into the atmosphere, I would be around you all the time" sings Lord, before swiftly throwing shade on the sentiment in the chorus, "It's always frightening what I think". It's this penchant for push and pull of light and dark splashed against the backdrop of trepidation and humour that make The Stroppies records so endearing and open-ended. Though undeniably pop structure orientated, the bands propensity for re-inventing and re-appropriating their recording and writing process ensures that nothing starts to fossilize. Indeed, Look Alive! is that most intriguing of records precisely because it represents two ideas at the same time - the sound of a band in flux, but also the sound of a band becoming more sure footed as they walk their crooked line. For fans of Guided by Voices, Pavement, Terry, The Chills, The Clean and The Verlaines.

Look Alive

Music US

Buy The Stroppies - Look Alive (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.