It’s not foregrounded, but as Strangest Feeling beds in after repeated listens it becomes clear that one of its core traits is The Pixies-originated quiet-loud, soft-hard dynamic which oozed into grunge. The second LP from the Irish-born, Sydney dwelling Bonnie Stewart isn’t a grunge album, but it has a kindred sensibility.
Take third track “Bittersweet”. It has a My Bloody Valentine / Pale Saints haziness but as a verse gives way to the chorus – boom, an explosion. The voice is folky, lilting, the melodies honeyed. Yet Stewart likes offsetting this with flare-ups indicating that – presumably – she likes to give listeners a surprise.
Some of Strangest Feeling is less structured, more abstract. Opening track “Dragon” is diffuse, goth-ish, evoking the percussive aspects of Dead Can Dance were they filtered through a bank of fog. On the wispy, just-about solo “Take Off”, Stewart is as vaporous as Flying Saucer Attack at their most nebulous. After this, “Halloween Birthday” is a creepy consideration of what it means for “my friend” to be born on that particular date. From this point onwards, Strangest Feeling is increasingly pastoral and spacey, yet still about contrasts: between a straightforward, folky delivery and an unsettling atmosphere.
Stewart plays guitar and, on half the tracks, drums. As well as the standard rock instruments, there are contributions from a pair of cellists and a double bassist. Ambient field recordings are also on the mix.
All of which means that the follow-up to 2019’s Energetic Mind has an appeal which is potentially not limited to one type of listener: the grunge and shoegazing inclined will conceivably be captivated, as may those seduced by introspection and the intimate. Strangest Feeling is an intriguing, if not wholly cohesive, concoction.
