Baby Strange: Exploring The World Below
“We’ve expanded our sound a lot,” Johnny Madden explains as he sits down with Distorted Sound to talk about his band’s new album, World Below. That band is BABY STRANGE. The Glasgow band consist of Madden on vocals and guitar, Connaire McCann on drums, and Aidan McCann on bass. They have previously released Want It Need It, which was their debut album, back in 2016. A six year break in between albums has given the band a chance to spread their wings, music wise. Now, whenever a band changes their sound, it can be very divisive; on the one hand, by changing genres, the band can guarantee that new listeners will be curious. On the other hand, there will always be those fans who are nostalgic for the old sound, and feel alienated by the new music. Both are valid.
Thankfully, for fans of BABY STRANGE, they do not need to worry about the band alienating fans with the change in direction. The indie-rock of their debut album is still there. However, there is also something extremely different as well. “This record is drastically different from our debut. This one feels more brave, personal, and has this new depth. We just went with our gut a lot of the time when creating this album and we’re really happy with the results,” Madden explains.
Did the band feel pressure to change up their sound? “Not at all. The fact it’s been some time between albums has made us feel pretty relaxed with exploring new sounds. We’re always wanting to move forward and push ourselves. We’re already thinking about album three.”
Before jumping ahead to album three, however, Madden does have some thoughts on World Below, which was written “at the height of lockdown, so we wanted to create this place in our minds that we could escape to. The world we created quickly became this dark, twisted type of underworld which totally reflected the songs.”
The concept of a dark and twisted alternative world is nothing new. Just look at books such as Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman or Un Lun Dun by China Miéville, which both depict vastly different versions of London; the former focusing on homelessness, and the latter on the impact of climate change. Alternative worlds are not new.
However, with BABY STRANGE, it’s different. Their alternative world is also reflected in the album cover, which shows a desolate town that has buildings which are lit up. When asked about the cover, Madden says, “we’ve been working with a guy called Bovine for all the artwork for this record, he’s amazing and really helped bring our ideas to life. With the cover we wanted it to look like you’re about to enter world below, standing on the outskirts not knowing what awaits within.”
That feeling of standing on the outskirts of the unknown is relatable for everyone. Whether that is about starting a new job, moving to a new town, or starting a new relationship, life is full of the unknown. In these testing times, music can help be a comfort to us, whether we need it as an escape or to say exactly what we’re feeling. As World Below deals with a so-called alternative reality which has quickly become our own reality, it perfectly encapsulates how we’re all feeling. However, because the album holds up a mirror to our society, surely that meant that there were songs that were emotionally hard to write?
Madden tells us that that wasn’t the case. In fact, the only issue they stumbled across was a technical one. “The title track was a bit tricky because we had lost the demo session that had a lot of great sounds on it, so we needed to try recreate them all from scratch. We got there in the end but it was a task!”
BABY STRANGE collaborated on the song Only Feel It When I’m With You with Hayley Mary, who they “met a few back in when she was living in Scotland. She is great! She’s such a nice person and a great singer. We’d love to perform the song on stage with her at some point, that would be very exciting.”
Of course, returning to live shows is also very exciting. As this summer of festivals is announced, BABY STRANGE have some very big shows planned on the horizon. “A hometown show at TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow” is first on the list. TRNSMT Festival is a Scottish festival that takes place in July each year. Any hometown show for a band is a big deal, so to play a festival is even more of a cause for celebration. “Our first ever European tour” is also on the horizon for BABY STRANGE. However, most excitedly, “we’ve also got some other big shows planned for the end of the year that will be announced soon,” Madden explains.
It’s obvious that the future for BABY STRANGE is bright. The trio have taken something negative and twisted it into a positive situation. “Lockdown was a big factor [of the making of World Below],” Madden explains. “I wouldn’t say it was inspiring but it was a big moment for us. The world shutting down made us get our shit together as a band and start writing this record. A lot of the anxiety that COVID brought to us actually have life to a lot of the songs.”
Of course, the world has been changed a lot over the past couple of years. It’s up to us to decide how we deal with these changes. One thing’s for sure; music will always be there for us.
World Below is out now via Icons Creating Evil Art.
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