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By GLYN MACLEAN
Staff Writer

RATING: 4 Stars (out of 5) “Strangely Appealing”

Lets face it, we can all be a little strange from time to time. Before we dive into the harmonic and cinematic depths of Chris Barry’s sonic strangeness, lets take a moment to examine what it means to be strange;

"Strange” –adjective

1 unusual, extraordinary, or curious; odd; queer: a strange remark to make.
2 estranged, alienated, etc., as a result of being out of one's natural environment: In Bombay I felt strange.
3 situated, belonging, or coming from outside of one's own locality; foreign: to move to a strange place; strange religions.
4 outside of one's previous experience; hitherto unknown; unfamiliar: strange faces; strange customs.
5 unaccustomed to or inexperienced in; unacquainted (usually fol. by to): I'm strange to this part of the job.
6 distant or reserved; shy.

In the 1960's, Ennio Morricone partnered with Sergio Leone to create one of the most distinctive soundtracks of all time in the film “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” According to Wikipedia this soundtrack is “...widely considered one of the greatest film scores in history.” The point of mentioning this is that, at the time of it’s release, the music was very strange but also; perfectly poignant. Consequently the film soundtrack reached No.4 position on the USA Billboard chart and became a new musical benchmark.

Fast forward a few thousand miles and a couple of decades to downtown Christchurch, New Zealand and in the year 2009, I’m listening to music from “The Strange”. After auditioning the first three demo tracks “Radio Friendly”, Sing On” and “F’ing and Blinding” I’m left feeling like I’ve heard the latest soundtrack to Quentin Taratino’s newest urban cowboy blockbuster flick complete with anti-heroes, dark villains and comedic side kicks.

With references to “...exorcising demons...” and “...attempts to take on the world’s injustices...” found in the self-penned bio of “The Strange”, I find hints at the cinematic. According to the bio, on their triumphant return to Ontario, “The Strange” licensed the song “One More Hour” to be featured on the hit TV show “15 Love”, airing across Canada and many European countries. The track “Radio Friendly” was used as the theme tune for a St. Catherine’s music TV show entitled “In Rotation”.

This begs the question; “Have we discovered the musical love child of Clint Eastward in the songwriting of Chris Barry?” I make this reference because as chance would have it, in between asking bandits to “make his day”, Clint Eastward is a very good jazz musician. If you hang around long enough to watch the credits to “Gran Torino” you’ll get the gist; tough guys are often sensitive. The same creative contradictions that exist with Clint Eastward are clearly present in the work of Chris Barry.

Hailing from the gloomy skies of overcast London, the Liverpudlian songwriter has been soaked in the same primordial slime as such songwriting greats as John Lennon, Oasis, Travis and The Verve to name a few.

However, in the tracks I’ve listened to, I also hear similarities to “The Clean”, “The Chills”, and even the “Sex Pistols”; at least in the driving energetic “wall of sound” guitar work that we’ve come to expect from Brit Pop. “The Strange” have catchy pop harmonies deftly hidden within a dark sound that becomes uplifting due to lucid vocals, inspired musicianship and great songwriting.

The first track I listened to, “Radio Friendly”, conveys the lyric “Songs all sound the same to me...” This charming rock anthem could easily be a theme tune to your own favorite TV series. Brit Pop lovers will find all the gloominess, angst and energy we’ve come to expect of great UK anthems. This track however also ushers in a new evolutionary step or ‘crossover’, presenting a sense of the celebration of something positive. This is a song that football fans could easily listen to after Liverpool wins the world cup.

“Sing On” is the perfect ‘coming of age’ teen pop song. I imagine thousands of USA teens on spring break chanting for “The Strange” to perform “Sing On” as a final encore. Imagine a variety concert featuring “Oasis” and “Smashmouth” with band members joining the audience in crowd diving. This song is infectious. Catchy tunes like this usually get picked up by advertising agencies and embedded in youth culture marketing.

A paltry two minutes and one-second of “F’ing & Blinding” - is Brit Pop storytelling at it’s very best. If Chris Barry is the musical love child of Clint Eastward then he must surely have attended pre school with both “The Pogues” and Elvis Costello. I say this in reference to the great sense of storytelling in the songwriting. This stand out track is lead by Eric Hutt with beautifully melodic pick Bass, Jeremy Knowles performs enigmatically on the Drums and the group includes some great perfectly pitched vocal harmonies.

The only really ‘strange’ thing about Chris Barry and his band “The Strange” is that they’re not very famous ‘yet’. I’ll leave you with the thought that some of the bands which at one time seemed to be at the edge of normality, often ended up redefining what it is that we perceive is ‘strange’.

‘Strange’ often becomes the new and popular normality.