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Nov 21, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Elizabeth De La Piedra

Bartees Strange is releasing a new album, Horror, on February 14, 2025 via 4AD. Now he has shared a new holiday-themed song, “Xmas,” that is not actually featured on Horror. Listen to the standalone single below.

Strange had this to say about the song on Facebook: “With holidays around the corner I wanted to try something new and write a Christmas (Krampus) song. Took me like half the year to write this, and I did it the only way I knew how. Do you know how hard writing a Christmas song is? It makes you a bit inside out—even for something as light and weird as it is. Here’s something a bit nice, loose, ugly and unserious—‘XMAS’ is out now.”

Strange has also announced that next Friday (November 30) he will be opening for his musical heroes TV on the Radio at Webster Hall, playing a solo set.

Strange first worked on Horror with Yves Rothman and Lawrence Rothman, before finishing it with Jack 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. When the album was announced he shared its second single, “Sober,” which was one of our Songs of the Week. Then he shared its third single, “Too Much,” via a music video. “Too Much” was again one of our Songs of the Week.

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.

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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