The cordial US trio Strange Names welcome the ears with their debut album Use Your Time Wisely. Rubbing shoulders with band member Liam Benzvi’s high-school friend Azelia Banks, the band have seen rising recognition in the run up to the record’s release. The American three prove their individual merit through elevating guitar-pop, which resonates deeper than your average band.

Opener ‘Return’ is a brush of boy band pop, meeting the intelligence of indie-orientated instrumentalism. The lyrics sing with a sweet tongue in cheek attitude, ‘I’m not your spring-time fantasy – awoah-oh-oh-oh!’ Strange Names are as indie-pop fantastic as the likes of Britain’s The 1975, without the irritating undertones in their voice. Unlike the tweed The 1975, Strange Names behold an authentic American twang, unforced and original.

Strange Name’s latest single ‘Ricochet’ is the epitome of the band’s charismatic and animated attitude. The lyrics wink with a seductive vibrancy, ‘I know you’ve got a secret for me…’ The bass guitar plunks with funk venom, amongst synth and energy that derives of 80s new age pop. The trio brings New Age into the contemporary, with a revitalizing energy. Strange Names coin this genre as ‘New Wave.’

‘I Can’t Control Myself’ twinkles in a similar pop-perfect wonder. The track’s sweet indie-boy-band splendor circles the brain, with it’s hook orientated format.

Sauntering in synth, ‘Only Boy’ meets a clatter of brash drums and guitar chords that swelter in sex. Seductively smooth, they lyrics ring out with attitude that allures, ‘cradle me, I’m precious, settle down, I’m so restless.’

Pelting a cool vigor is ‘Neighborhood’, punching a breeze of uplifting resonance. Strange Names reach deeper with their lyrical commentary than your average pop-penners, as the song comments on the innocence of adolescence. ‘I miss my old neighborhood,’ it wistfully sings, of a fruitless fun youth, ceasing into the past.

The most danceable track is certainly ‘Trespassing’ as it beats a jovial groove… Whilst contrastingly, ‘Brick City’ slows to a more pondering synth, as we  ‘hit the wall, cos I can’t live in a brick city.’ Painting themes of feeling at a loss in isolation, Strange Names are the chameleons of indie-pop, slick to alter the mood.

Showing their softer side even further, is the opening to ‘Over-used Phrase’. The track begins simple, in a more stripped back format of soothing bluesy guitar strokes, before bursting into vibrant life. Showing their dynamism, Strange Names sweep to the soothing at the songs close, as we ‘get lost in the fog’ in a sea of soaring vocals.

It’s clear that Strange Name’s have nailed a debut record of indie-pop contagion. Though their format teeters on the edge of that of a generic and stereotypical indie-boy band, their individualism raises them as remarkable. With the ability to bring classic pop into the contemporary, with alternating moods from the vibrant and uplifting, to the sweet, seductive or moody, Strange Names hail themselves as a dynamic bunch with Use Your Time Wisely.

‘Use Your Time Wisley’ is out now on Frenchkiss Records

Emily Schofield