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Oct 01, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Elizabeth De La Piedra

Bartees Strange has announced a new album, Horror, and shared a new song from it, “Sober,” via a music video. Horror is due out February 14 via 4AD. Below check out “Sober,” followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork.

Strange produced “Sober” with Jack Antonoff, Yves Rothman, and Lawrence Rothman. He had this to say about it in a press release: “This song is about falling short in a relationship, over and over and drinking because of it. I think this is something a lot of people can probably relate to. Being in love, but not being the best at showing it or feeling successful within it. And being afraid that this is something you’ll always deal with because you never really saw a better example of how love works.”

Strange first worked on the album with Yves and Lawrence Rothman, before finishing it with Antonoff after he worked with Antonoff’s band Bleachers.

A press release says the album is about “facing your fears and becoming feared.”

The press release adds: “Strange was raised on fear. His family told scary stories to teach life lessons, and at an early age, he started watching scary movies to practice being strong. The world can be a terrifying place, and for a young, queer, Black person in rural America, that terror can be visceral. Horror is an album about facing those fears and growing to become someone to be feared.”

Strange further elaborates: “In a way I think I made this record to reach out to people who may feel afraid of things in their lives too. For me it’s love, locations, cosmic bad luck, or that feeling of doom that I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember. I think that it’s easier to navigate the horrors and strangeness of life once you realize that everyone around you feels the same. This album is just me trying to connect. I’m trying to shrink the size of the world. I’m trying to feel close—so I’m less afraid.”

Horror includes “Lie 95,” a new song that Strange released in July.

Horror is Strange’s third album and the follow-up to 2022’s Farm to Table and 2020’s Live Forever.

Strange first garnered attention for covering a string of The National tracks, including on Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, his EP of National covers released in 2020 on Brassland, a label run by members of the band. He was born in Ipswich, England, but grew up in Mustang, a largely the white and conservative rural town outside Oklahoma City, before launching his music career in Washington, D.C. In between he also worked in the Obama administration.

Read our interview with Strange on Live Forever.

Horror Tracklist:

1. Too Much
2. Hit It Quit It
3. Sober
4. Baltimore
5. Lie 95
6. Wants, Needs
7. Lovers
8. Doomsday Buttercup
9. 17
10. Loop Defenders
11. Norf Gun
12. Backseat Banton

Bartees Strange 2025 Tour Dates:

Thursday, Feb 13 – LOS ANGELES, CA @ Paramount
Saturday, Feb 15 – WASHINGTON, DC @ 9:30 Club
Wednesday, Feb 19 – NEW YORK, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Wednesday, Feb 26 – LONDON, UK @ Oslo Hackney

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