Talk about serendipity – actual serendipity, not the stain on John Cusack’s career. Having just been talking with Frank about The Veils, and how awesome they are, and how more people should like them, I discovered that one half of new band Straylings is ex-Veils guitarist Oli Drake. Which is to say, it’s not surprising that they’re great.
The other half is Bahraini/Austrian Dana Zeera. She moved to the UK a couple of years ago, having grown up listening to the US Navy radio station over in Bahrain, which makes for an interesting mix of Middle Eastern influences and smouldering Americana.
They’re now based in London, have an EP, “The Saguaro”, out with Things To Make And Do/PIAS, and have been (I quote) “playing pretty relentlessly” in the meantime. Having dragged Dana’s producer-brother Mishal over from New York, they’re now putting the final touches to their debut album, due out in the not too distant future…
Comparisons have been drawn to such luminaries as Mazzy Star and Patti Smith, and deservedly so. Straylings trade in the same brooding brand of jangling blues as Crazy Horse and Grinderman, but with less beard. They also manage to capture a touching sweetness that Nick Cave, uh … look, he’s hardly sweet, is he? That said, to my mind the most striking comparison is with fellow Londoners Howling Bells – a very good thing if you ask me.
They’ve already got the backing of Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq, but you can make up your own mind by checking out their new single “Carver’s Kicks”, due out on the 27th of July, below. Better yet, you can even download sultry ballad B-side “On Its Way”! Don’t say we – or Straylings – don’t spoil you.
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