Strange Dave has found us. (Sorry David, I had to!) A man of my own heart, the rocker has the confusing wizard sex appeal of Willy Wonka, except his wisdom doesn’t come across at all as sinister but rather sweet. Most creative pervy weirdos do have a secret heart of gold, a glittering calm aurora settling from the delightful shit storm of crazy that’s scattered all over them. On his self-titled EP he poses nearly naked, in a top hat and fur coat while holding a fish over his crotch. (What are you trying to say with that fish, huh?) The more you learn about the man the more it all makes sense. David Strange was a session musician and former guitarist for Courtney Love, all the while diving and digging into his own music on the side. Then one fine day Charlotte Kemp Muhl (The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger) took a listen and asked to become his producer. In addition to production, Charlotte contributes vocals and plays the drums on the fruits of their labor, the upcoming self-titled EP, David Strange, which was created in Yoko Ono’s home studio.
On the opening track “Mean World” he takes a feminist stance with lyrics to warn women of the dangers of being female in modern society over a steady, sublimely sleepy melody driven by Charlotte’s drums. “It’s a mean world, they’ll make you get down on your knees, girl.” Special shout to to David for addressing men’s tendency to assume desired friendship means desire to fuck; it doesn’t, and is an especially annoying facet of being female we gotta deal with. They twist the knob up to psych-rock on the hypnotic raunchy, in-your-face track “Aztec Corn.” The entire EP feels like it should be played amongst friends, around a bonfire in the desert while your goofiest buddy eats enough peyote to spit poetry like Jim Morrison.
“Call me by my Christian name…cocaine,” he begs in the red-waxed rock star seal of approval tune, “Cocaine.” Electric guitars wail through the slowed down, stripped away ballad of affection and sadness to the powder that launched a million brilliant conversations then wilted into just as many fetal positions. The EP waves farewell on the final track “Lion Tattoo” with slowed down strums, an au revoir from a sailboat flickering with lights as it heads out to sea. “And the strangeness is weird, like a girl with a sneer, whose tongue kisses me like a tiger…” In the single “Vitamin Pills” he relays “Don’t try to change me.” We won’t, if you keep doing you. Enjoy the video for “Vitamin Pills” below. Directed by Charlotte Kemp Muhl (multi-talented lady!) it uses carnival-esque macabre imagery (animal heads and pogo sticks) drenched in pink to convey the gypsy pop buzz of the song. Quite fitting for a musician who believes “reality is inherently psychedelic.” The EP comes out January 20.
