Stranger Girl are a Brighton-based indie pop band. Their first trio of releases came onto the scene in 2019, which saw successes such as features on BBC Introducing South’s Track of the Week, and recognition on various popular blogs including Louder Than War and A&R Factory.
The band have also seen placements on recognised playlists such as the Spotify curated ‘Hot New Bands’ and have secured headline spots at gigs across Brighton and London.
Getting to know Stranger Girl
What is the most useless talent you have?
James has a divine talent for impressions, in particular Ian Mckellan as Gandalf. It’s quite hard to watch the LOTR movies with him in the room…
What was the last thing you dressed up as for fancy dress?
Last year we all dressed up as wizards for a magical murder mystery event across Brighton. It was quite funny as Brighton was just taken over by people in pointy hats and capes with no real explanation for the public.
As a kid were you ever frightened of a monster under the bed or in the cupboard?
Totally! I was terrified of looking under my bed, and I remember that episode of Doctor Who with the angels freaked me out for months – I kept thinking any statues in the house might come after me. I was a very easily spooked child!
Do you have any superstitions?
I’m super superstitious about magpies. If I see a magpie flying solo, I’m convinced it’s like a bad omen. I’m also very into astrology and I totally think there’s some truth to it! The guys are. not so convinced.
Which are cooler? Dinosaurs or Dragons?
As we play dungeons and dragons on the regular, I feel obliged to say dragons. But dinosaurs are awesome too! A prehistoric dragon would be the perfect compromise.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
We’d describe our music as indie nerd-pop. It’s got a running theme of sadness, uncertainty and not figuring out your place in the world. It’s for people that feel a bit outcast or anxious or totally freaked out by life. But it’s upbeat, it’s got hope, it’s an outstretched hand to those people because we are those people too.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
We see both the good and the bad in this! On the one hand, it’s great to have all these online platforms where you can reach so many more people than you used to. We’ve haven’t yet toured, but our music has still been listened to by people all over the world which is magical. On the other side, it also means that competition is fierce because you’re fighting to be heard on a platform with millions of others also making noise. Sometimes the industry can get so caught up in how many followers you have, how many likes your posts are getting and so on. The quality of the music itself can be forgotten very quickly, we’d love to see that change, we’d love for the industry to start taking chances again.
Who are your main musical influences?
We often turn to The Strokes as they’re so iconic for indie artists, and one of the main reasons I wanted to be in a band to begin with. But bands and artists like Weezer, Indoor Pets, Car Seat Headrest, Babyqueen and so many more have influenced our game too. I love artists that honestly share their experiences of not fitting in, and this combined with fantastic indie or pop melodies make them total heroes for us.
What is your current music project about?
‘Black Hole Radio’ is our upcoming EP and it’s the first one that we’ve put together. For us, this EP is about navigating all the relationship and career doubts you go through in your early twenties. It has a coming-of-age feel to it as we grew up a lot in the last several years where we wrote these songs. I always felt like a bit of a misfit and a lot of those emotions went into the lyrics. The girl on the cover artwork is a representation of that, she’s by herself and she’s somewhere far away. But she’s got these songs playing and they make her feel far less alone.
Pre-Save Black Hole Radio https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/strangergirl/black-hole-radio-2
What is your biggest musical challenge?
Writer’s block! Especially during a pandemic where so little is going on. I find weeks and sometimes months go by where my days fill up with the general happenings of life and I lose focus on my creativity. Coming back from that and getting into a creative and productive flow is so difficult, but I hope that it will become easier with the changing times.
Was anyone else involved in writing, recording, or producing the songs?
Not this time! It’s self-produced. We wrote, recorded, mixed and mastered the entire EP ourselves. We had a vision for how we wanted it to sound, and so we decided to oversee the project from the inception to the final outcome.
Social Media:
www.facebook.com/strangergirlmusic
www.instagram.com/strangergirlmusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSi12NXomMl9C4fmbw7EOBw/videos
