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Nov 30, 2016 Web Exclusive By Lily Moayeri

STRFKR hits cosmic heights—quite literally—on its psychedelic/celestial fourth album, Being No One, Going Nowhere. In the last decade or so, the Portland group has been unsuccessful in maintaining a low profile. Despite it's almost un-pigeonhole-able music and its provocative name, STRFKR has broken through, and never more so than on, Being No One, Going Nowhere. Naming the album after a popular meditation book by Ayya Khema, STRFKR's central figure, Joshua Hodges, whose vision Being No One, Going Nowhere is, has it grounded in Eastern philosophies. To tap into these, he decamped to Joshua Tree, and like so many before him, found his muse in the desert.

This doesn't make Being No One, Going Nowhere a heavy album to take on, rather, it plays like an anti-dark version of Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs. Groove-driven and lush, this is the prettiest and happiest of STRFKR's albums. Synths direct all the moods—which are primarily of the dance variety—from the slinky rhythms of "In the End" to the understated electro textures of the seductive "When I'm With You," and the angular moodiness of "Something Ain't Right." It is the intoxicating album opener, "Tape Machine," that exemplifies Being No One, Going Nowhere—easily the most self-realized STRFKR has been. (www.strfkr.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10