Stroszek

Reassuringly, Stroszek are indeed named after a Werner Herzhog film. And they are indeed a band out of time- quoting Thomas Paine, Bertrand Russell, and John Pilger in their press booklet, they are a band who clearly spend some time on their words - perhaps too much, even reviewing each song themselves. Happily, we’re broadly in agreement at least on the music - ‘You’ve Only Got Yourself To Blame ’sets the pattern for the 4-tracker, doomy basslines and squally synths suggest that, though they rail against it, the band would perhaps be better placed in the “Tory 1980s” - Chamleons, Magazine and Artery among the influences apparently prevalent in the tune. ‘The Saltire’ is more upbeat, and though their press mentions the term “alternative national anthem” in the same breath as Noam Chomsky, it’s as hip as the Bunnymen with glowsticks. You’ll not be surprised to learn that ‘Railway of Bones’ is about Stalin’s Trans-Siberian railroad, but again they live up to the lofty ambitions (or pretensions) with a tune worthy of the Cocteaus or the Cure. For a band steeped in the 80s, Saatchi and Saatchi would be proud of the hype, but on this occasion you can believe it.