Portland has had a long and fabled romance with the increasingly borderless genre of folk and in many ways it’s this love affair that is intrisically responsible for that rising intedeminance. Whether it’s the classic Americana of outfits like the Watertower Bucket Boys; or the macabre energy of the Builders and the Butchers; or the subtle introspection of Holcombe Waller — the folk scene in this city has, for better or worse, perpetuated a blanket term for a wide array of contemporary acoustic music. Nominally speaking, you might have already suspected Strangled Darlings sound leans towards the Builders and the Butchers more afflicted end of the spectrum. Self-described as literary doom pop, the duo of George Veech and Jessica Anderly juxatpose boisterous instrumentation with exacting sociopolitical lyricism in ways that fashionably blur the lines of blues and bluegrass, which are typically adjacent to folk. The result is something that recalls the days when Tom Waits spent less time on movie sets and more time on the back fourty. The new video for "Snake and the Girl" certainly confirms the group’s darker tendencies with writhing bathtub scenes and shamanistic beach rituals. There also may or may not be a giant snake.
Strangled Darlings just released their latest full-length, Red Yellow & Blue, on May 15th. You can catch the release show and pick up your own copy at Secret Society Ballroom this Saturday, May 19th.