Bartees Strange speaks to Atwood Magazine about his ambitious and unflinchingly introspective third studio album, ‘Horror’ – an intrepid, genre-blurring odyssey through personal fears, artistic evolution, and the liberating power of self-definition.
Stream: ‘Horror’ – Bartees Strange
The monsters are all inside of us, and there’s no way out except for going deeper inside yourself.
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Bartees Strange has never been one to color inside the lines.
Across his first two albums – 2020’s Live Forever and 2022’s Farm to Table – he has carved out a singular space in music, one where genre distinctions blur and dissolve in service of something deeper, rawer, and truer to his ever-evolving artistry. His latest album, Horror, is his boldest statement yet: An unflinching exploration of personal fears, artistic ambition, and the haunting weight of self-doubt. If Live Forever was an introduction and Farm to Table a snapshot of an artist in motion, Horror is the sound of Bartees Strange fully in command of his craft – pushing himself to new emotional and sonic extremes.
The title Horror isn’t about ghosts or ghouls; it’s about the specters of insecurity, loneliness, and artistic erasure that loom large in Strange’s mind. Across the album’s sprawling soundscape – melding Parliament-Funkadelic grooves with Fleetwood Mac lushness, Isley Brothers riffs with the precision of Steely Dan – he navigates these fears head-on, turning them into something powerful.
“It’s about facing your fears and growing to become something to be feared,” he tells Atwood Magazine. But Horror is more than just a record about anxiety and uncertainty – it’s an act of self-definition, a testament to pushing past doubt and claiming space in an industry that so often tries to categorize and contain. At its heart, Horror isn’t just about fear – it’s about transformation, a process that unfolds in both its lyrics and its sound.
That internal tug-of-war plays out across the album in thrilling, unpredictable ways.
Horror is a sonic high-wire act, teetering between crushing vulnerability and defiant swagger, between moments of intimacy and overwhelming scale. “I wanted to create really deep valleys and really high peaks – deeper and higher than I’ve ever done before,” Strange explains.
Tracks like “Too Much” explode with restless energy, leaping between genres in a way that feels both disorienting and exhilarating. “It’s overwhelming,” he says of the song. “People say, ‘Oh, he’s a genre-bender,’ and I’m like, okay, cool – let’s do it like this.”
Elsewhere, “Baltimore” captures the existential exhaustion of trying to build a life in an increasingly unforgiving world, while “Sober,” a standout track and former Atwood Magazine Editor’s Pick, offers an aching meditation on emotional entrapment, with Strange reckoning with a doomed, dying love and its effects on his mental health. “It’s hard to be sober, it’s hard to just sit with all of that and hold it,” he confesses.
I did a backbend when I saw you
You were floating across us
You had a whole vibe,
none could have taught it
At the end of the world
So when you know
When you know it’s right
When a day becomes your whole life
I’m standing here, in between the lines
Guess I’ve never had a guiding light
That’s why it’s hard to be sober
“It’s a real pandemic love story,” Strange recently told Atwood Magazine. “You really can’t get out… you’re in an apartment together, and you’re trying to navigate this feeling of being stuck in something you’re trying to get out of, and you’re then trying to drink through it in a way… It’s hard to be sober, it’s hard to just sit with all of that and hold it.” A cinematic anthem for the emotionally distressed, “Sober” is, in many ways, the gateway into Horror, capturing all too relatable feelings of angst and dread with incredible finesse.
Through it all, Strange maintains his signature refusal to be boxed in – musically, emotionally, or philosophically.
“People always talk about genre like it’s these hard walls,” he says. “But you can use all of it to tell your story however you want.”
Horror is proof of that ethos, a record that doesn’t just challenge boundaries but obliterates them. Releasing on Valentine’s Day – a date often reserved for saccharine love songs – the album instead flips the script, transforming personal reckoning into empowerment.
If fear is the great immobilizer, Horror is its antidote – proof that fear can also set you free.
Sitting down with Atwood Magazine, Bartees Strange opens up about the fears that shaped Horror, the creative risks that define his artistry, and the personal reckoning that fuels his songwriting.
From the vulnerable self-examination of “17” and the self-actualization of “Backseat Banton” to the sonic ambition behind tracks like “Too Much” and “Lovers” and the deep introspection of “Baltimore,” “Sober,” the restless search for belonging on “Lie 95,” and beyond, we unpack the emotional highs and lows of his most daring album yet. He reflects on his genre-defying approach, his evolution as both an artist and producer, and what it means to take control of your own narrative in an industry that so often tries to define you first.
“The real goal of my music is by deconstructing genre, it’s really deconstructing barriers that separate all of us,” he concludes. “Country music, rap music, pop music, jazz, these are all different groups of people, and I want all those people in the same room. That’s what I would love. This record is kind of trying to do that through talking about the things that we’re all afraid of.”
Through it all, one thing is clear: Bartees Strange isn’t just making music – he’s making space for himself, his fears, and his ever-growing ambitions. Horror is an album of uncertainty, catharsis, inner power, and the human experience; of confronting what haunts you and coming out stronger on the other side.
“Super dark times,” Strange says, distilling the album’s emotional core into three simple words – but Horror isn’t about getting lost in the darkness; it’s about learning to navigate it, and maybe even finding light along the way.
Read our interview below and step into the world of Horror – where fear fuels transformation, and the only way forward is through.
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:: stream/purchase Horror here ::
:: connect with Bartees Strange here ::
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“Too Much” – Bartees Strange
A CONVERSATION WITH BARTEES STRANGE
Atwood Magazine Bartees, we're talking only 13 days into January, so I feel like the first place to start is, do you have any New Year's resolutions?
Bartees Strange: Any New Year’s resolutions? No, not really; survive… I mean, I would love to get some more, you know I’ve been producing a lot in the last year or so, which has been a lot of fun, and I’m excited to keep doing that and there’s a lot of touring that I’ll hopefully do next year, and every time I go into every year, I’m like, oh, I hope I get a couple cool records, so I’m saying the same thing this year, just like, I wonder what’ll come through and what I’ll work on this year, it’s like, who knows at this point.
Horror aside, what were some of your favorite records that you worked on production-wise last year?
Bartees Strange: I can’t talk about some of them, but I worked on the Bleachers album, which was really fun, really, Jack and I became buddies, and I got to work on a few songs there, there’s just been like a slew of artists, there’s a local artist named Eyas, who I produced an album for last year that is doing great, and she’s really special, I think like a really amazing vocalist and songwriter and piano player, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what she does, and yeah, and other than that, just kind of bopping around, just pulling up and playing guitar and pressing record, so it’s been a fun year. There’s this French artist named Naya, who I think is really great, she was signed to Sony and now she’s doing her own thing, and I did an EP for her that comes out in a few weeks – so yeah, it’s busy and good!
I'll look out for that and for all the other things that you can't share as well as the year progresses! But of course, we're here to talk about your third studio album. Can you share a little about the story behind Horror?
Bartees Strange: Yeah, I started working on it years ago, probably I would say like 2020, late 2020, early ’21, and at the time I didn’t know if I was working on my second album, ‘Farm to Table’, or if I was working on ‘Horror’, I was just kind of recording songs and seeing what came out, I had a bunch of friends together and we were just recording. And from those sessions I came up with kind of like two buckets of songs. I had ‘Farm to Table’ songs which were a little bit more like streamlined and felt very songwritery, and then I had these other songs that felt way more dynamic and at the time I was like, these are scary, like scary songs, like big movements, big hooks, every song felt like a single.
I was like, this is like a weird, deeper, more twisty, turny record, and I also don’t know if I’m good enough to finish it right now. I thought, I don’t know if I have the chops, honestly, to do everything I’m hearing with this, so I’m going to put this down and I’m going to finish Farm to Table. And so I worked on Farm to Table for that year, and put it out the following summer, and then after that I came back to Horror and I’ve been incrementally plugging away at it since late 2022, early ’23.
It is so difficult to put something down and say, “I can't finish you right now, I'm not ready to yet,” so I have to applaud you for doing that.
Bartees Strange: Thanks. I hadn’t done that either. Normally when I write something I’m excited about I’m like, ooh, let’s go! But this time, I remember after I wrote “Sober,” I was like, “ooh, this is going to be a lot of work, I don’t know how to do this,” and I also, just like the lyrical content and what I was talking about, it was stuff that I was like, I don’t know if I’m ready to sing this song in front of people. So it was like, I just wanted to finish Farm to Table, it felt easy in a way, and so I did that before I got into something more scary.
Well, I'm glad you came back to it, putting something down like that can be the hardest thing in the world, but I'm glad you returned to it. Once you did return to it, what was your vision for the record? Did that change over the course of recording and producing and mixing and mastering?
Bartees Strange: No, I mean, I wanted to make something that was kind of, I feel like most people that know me kind of expect me to do unexpected things, like big swings and songs are different and whatever, and I naturally write that way and I love writing that way, and with this record, I kind of wanted to do something that was like a classic Strange record, but I wanted it to be more focused and I wanted to really focus on songwriting and production and make songs that were thoughtful and hooky and sticky and big, and I wanted to create really deep valleys and really high peaks – deeper and higher than I’ve ever done before, and that was kind of the goal.
And I was kind of painting with these thoughts of like I want to bridge these sounds of genres and worlds of music that I kind of grew up on and grew to love, stuff like Parliament-Funkadelic and Brothers Johnson and also Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young and Steely Dan, like stuff that my parents would listen to and that I would try to avoid but then grew to love and burn holes in those CDs over, for decades now. And once you get into that, you start trying to, for me, it’s like if I hear a beautiful Fleetwood Mac song, I’m like, okay, well, how’d they make it? Why do the drums sound that way? Why do the guitars sound that way? What’s the process? And that was kind of like what guided me as I recorded this record, was kind of getting really deep into the engineering and the production once the songs are written, to kind of create something old and new, like classic and new at the same time, yeah.
You said earlier that you were looking to make a strange record, and I couldn't tell if you were using strange as an adjective or Strange as your last name.
Bartees Strange: Oh, my last name!
I like that. And when it comes to big swings, what do you feel are some of the biggest swings on this album?
Bartees Strange: “Too Much” is a pretty wild track, and I love that it’s the first track ’cause in my mind, it’s kind of like, it’s like you land somewhere new and someone hands you a map, and is like, this is what you must, you have to follow this to get to the end. And I feel like that song is kind of like the sonic thesis or the like, over the course of the record, we kind of go deep into each of these kind of sounds that happen across that song. It’s almost like if you can get through this, you’ll be fine for the rest.
I had a question saved for later in our conversation, but because you brought it up – you do open the album with sleazy guitars and affected vocals. What tone is “Too Much” setting for you?
Bartees Strange: Well, I wanted to just shock you. It’s just like, it’s too much. It’s like, it’s overwhelming and I feel like the cool parts about that song is just like, people say like, “Oh, he’s a genre bender and a shape shifter.” And I’m like, okay, cool. Well, let’s do it like this. You know, it’s just three different people and the vocal quality changes, the entire sonic landscape changes like on a dime, and it fits and it works because it’s mine.
And that’s kind of the point I’m always trying to prove. People are always playing, talking about genres if it’s like these hard walls, but it’s like, you can use all of it to tell your story however you want. And I feel like with that song, it’s just kind of an abuse of manipulation of genre and sound choices. And yeah, it’s too much!
The way I always see my role as a music journalist, as a writer, is to use genres conservatively, but to help people understand what they're listening to. And the unspoken agreement with the artist is, we're going to try to use boxes to help communicate what you're saying to others, and you're going to break all those boxes.
Bartees Strange: Yeah. And, yeah, that song, I think it’s an earworm in a way that a lot of the other songs aren’t. There’s not really a hook; the hook is the guitar line and I just think that’s cool, I like that. It reminds me of the Isleys or Brothers Johnson or one of those bands, you know?
One of the things I really do love about this album, and you as an artist in general, is how fluid you are when it comes to musical styles. Forget the term genre; the way in which you create feels unpredictable from minute to minute, and that's exciting for me as a listener. I don't think there are many artists in general who approach what they're making in that way. The best example I could make for this album was the run from “Baltimore,” to “Lie 95,” to “Wants Needs” and “Lovers.” It kind of exemplifies how much you've stretched yourself on this record. I'm curious, how do you personally describe your music?
Bartees Strange: Ooh, people always ask me like, well, what kind of music does your band make? And I kind of just like, well, everything. I mean, there’s something for everyone, but I don’t know, dude, I think I make pop music. It’s like an alternative pop music. That’s how I see it. It’s like a best of, of specific things. And I’m always, I mean, like when I listen to like, I don’t know, I was literally just looking at the Grammy lists and stuff today, all the nominations, and I was looking at Beyonce’s record. And I was like, I love this, right?
It’s my favorite Beyonce record she’s ever put out, and people will say whatever they want to say about that, but the thing that I love the most about it is that the range is crazy. It goes from the most Americana thing to the most sleazy country thing, to pretty much a Hosier, hey ho, barn stomper, to a big House song, and I’m like, yes, that’s pop music! It’s like a Quincy Jones production! And that’s kind of how I think about my records. It’s like, everything’s on the table, we’re just trying to make the best songs we can possibly make. And that’s, I would just call it a pop record.
Why the title ‘Horror’?
Bartees Strange: Well, it’s ’cause a lot of the themes in the record are kind of about personal horrors, things that I feel like haunt me. Like a feeling of loneliness, or like that feeling of no matter what you do, it’ll never be good enough. Or, where am I going to live? Like there’s, everything’s so expensive and I don’t know where to build a life or intimacy or, you know, these are kind of like the themes across the record. It’s more that than like, there’s a monster under my bed. It’s more like the monsters are all inside of us, and there’s no way out except for going deeper inside yourself. And that’s kind of where this record ends, is with “Backseat Banton.” It’s like, I was a backseat lover and now I want to drive. It’s like you live your whole life not sure of what to do and kind of just riding. And then you hit a certain point where you’re like, okay, if I’m going to do more than just ride, like I have to like drive this car, and that was like, those are kind of the themes of the whole thing.
You've said that Horror is an album about facing your fears and growing to be someone, to become someone to be feared, which I was fascinated by.Where do you feel those themes manifest in the music on this album?
Bartees Strange: Yeah. I mean, one clear song about like, you go through your life kind of being afraid, and then eventually, you kind of conquer these fears and you grow and you grow and you grow and then you become something that people have to take seriously. And a song that I would say is like that is “Loop Defenders.” A loop defender is a gatekeeper. That’s how I’m classifying that term. It’s like people that won’t let you succeed for whatever reason. And I opened the song talking about things that would scare me. But after surviving those things, I become something so much bigger and also scary. And so that’s kind of what that song, that’s the manifestation of that idea, is now I’m up on the ceiling, I’m a demon, I’m the thing that you put on a shelf, like you tried to classify me and put me in a box, but I’m so much bigger and scarier than that. And now I’m gonna show you.
I love that. I love it. I didn't make the connection when I listened to that song at first, but the protectors of the status quo, that makes so much more sense. That makes me excited to go back to it.
Bartees Strange: Yeah. “Wants Needs” is another song kind of like that, about realizing that you need fans. And I think I wrote it as like a love song, like I need you too when it’s all said and done, but it’s really it’s like, it’s the first line in the song, “I get scared of erasure ’cause it just seem to happen, don’t it?” It’s like, I want to be successful, but I can’t do it if people don’t like me. So how do I get people to like me? I want it and I need it. It’s like, that’s kind of, those are the fears and like how some of these ideas kind of manifest themselves.
Yeah. The artist fan relationship is inherently parasocial, and it has to be and it's weird. And then you get the two spectrums. There's the artists who are so all in that they give fans like a text number, a phone number. And then on the other side, there's the artists who reject their fans. And I've seen some artists play to the band, like standing on stage on the other, back to the audience. And it's fascinating how everybody fits on that scale, on that spectrum. It's just a weird reality to be an artist in this day and age, I think.
Bartees Strange: It’s a trip. And I think I’ve realized that I don’t want to give that much of myself away. I’m still trying to find the balance. It’s like, how do you do this without TikToking all the time? I don’t really want to, you know? I want to write songs. I want to write songs and tour. It’s a good life.
This is your third studio album in five years. How do you feel Horror reintroduces you and captures your artistry, especially compared to Farm to Table and Live Forever?
Bartees Strange: Live Forever, it’s like a classic first album. It’s like you work on it kind of your whole life. And then it comes out and you’re like, those are the best songs I had, period. And then ‘Farm to Table’, I just thank God the songs were good ’cause I just wrote them so fast and put it out so quick. And this is the first album that now it’s like, okay, I’m way better at my job. I know way more about producing and I have a way bigger network and I have songs that I actually have some experiences now as a 35 year old guy that it’s like, I’m writing from a perspective that isn’t the 27 year old that was writing a record that came out when he was 32. It’s like, this is me where I’m at right now. And it’s like, yeah, and it feels the most me, you know? I felt like when I was playing songs from ‘Live Forever’ I’m like, I was 24 when I wrote this song, but now it’s like these songs are like, this is what’s happening right now. And that’s going to be new for me and something I look forward to.
Yeah, we can unpack our trauma on stage together every night.
Bartees Strange: Yeah, it’ll be a trip.
I know you and Jack Antonoff worked together on this album; what was your experience like collaborating with him as a co-producer for your own music?
Bartees Strange: It was an honor, ’cause I, it was not the plan. And I thought I had finished the record before I met him. And when I met him, we just kind of hit it off. And he invited me over and asked me to bring my music, and we just listened to it. And he liked it. He was just, I was like, dude, I can’t afford to work with you. There’s no way, you know? And he was just like, no, let’s just, let’s go. Like, let’s just figure it out. And I’ve never met anyone more generous or kind or talented and hardworking. The guy gets a lot of guff for what, because he’s so good, I think. But it’s like, he’s one of the best. And he has a unique way of hearing music, and I love working with people that see things a little differently, and he has this heart that’s just like, it’s like working with a plumber, or someone that builds houses, he doesn’t care about the titles or any of that shit. He’s just like, how do we make the best song? Let’s just do it now and let’s stay until it’s done. And I’m, I relate to that, he’s a real worker. And it was awesome to learn from him and work with him.
Speaking of people who should work less, live more, the man is just a workhorse. I've been a fan of his since the Steel Train era!
Bartees Strange: Oh my God, dude, yeah. My first Instagram name was Black Antonoff. And I deleted it way before anything ever happened, but I always think that’s hilarious. I should share that with him.
So you kind of manifested it?!
Bartees Strange: I guess so. Why? I have always wanted to like, I mean, there are people on my list, obviously, that I want to work with or know, and dude, he’s the best.
Who else is on that list, now that you kind of got one person checked off?
Bartees Strange: James Blake… I mean, I want that hang bad. I’m like a massive fan of his production and would love to write with him. He’s the best. There’s a number of others. Gosh, I don’t know, just thinking producers. Oh, actually, I met one this year, Mike Elizondo. That guy made some records that are some of the biggest records of my young life. All those 50 Cent records, f*ing, gosh, what’s her name? Fiona Apple, just extremely high quality musician and is able to just move between genres. Niles Godrich, another one, I would do anything to meet Niles Godrich. Like there are some people that I would just like what, Raphael Sadiq, I’ll do anything. I would also do anything to write with Beyonce. So there are definitely people. Who knows, life is long, we’ll see.
I wish all of them for you. You've also said that making this album was working through feelings of doom, which is something that I think any 30 something, myself included, can relate to. I feel like I hear that raw emotion throughout the record. “Baltimore” was the song that I picked out, which just to me feels like such a vulnerable and honest song about your personal life experience. What sort of doom have you felt personally over the past couple of years, and what did working it out through song look like for you?
Bartees Strange: I mean, I think a lot of artists experience this. So I know it’s not unique to me, but I think that ever since I was a kid, I kind of always felt this feeling that I don’t really have control over my life and that at any given moment, everything can just be kind of taken away from you, whether it’s because of like your color of your skin or whatever, and you kind of grow up with that reality. Kind of like where I was, I lived in a really rural, conservative town in Oklahoma and had to kind of really mask myself to get through that experience. And so growing up with that as the backdrop, you kind of never feel safe. Like everything kind of feels a little fraught, even when things are going really well. And as soon as things go well, you’re already, you’re kind of like, okay, how am I going to lose this? You think you’re going to lose it as soon as you get it. And I think that’s a feeling that a lot of people feel, and especially artists.
And I feel like in songs like “Baltimore,” it’s like, it’s me just looking across the country like, okay, if I want to just have a family and a house and live affordably and not have to work 80 hours a week and not have to make $180,000 to just like be all right, where can I do that? And is it diverse? Is there a diverse one? It’s like the pool gets smaller and smaller and smaller until you’re like, there’s nowhere you can live, you know? And so that’s like, on the question of doom and stuff like that, that’s kind of what I would say kind of plagues me, but it’s like, you just keep going, and I told myself, I used to have a 9:00 to 5:00 and I made good money at that job. And, but I was so, so, so miserable. And I remember telling myself, I was like, I would rather tour and like write songs and go broke than stay at this job and retire when I’m 65 and then go on vacation. I was like, I want to have a good time, not a long time, if that’s the choice I have to make. I want to live it doing stuff I like, you know? That’s literally the choice that we make.
That's true, and I’m right there with you. You talked about your experience growing up in Oklahoma, and now you call Baltimore home. What is your present experience like in Maryland?
Bartees Strange: Love Baltimore. So that’s the fun part about that song, both Baltimore this like, I name all these cities and all these reasons why I’m like, oh, maybe it’s not the best move. But Baltimore was the best move. And it’s an amazing city, super diverse, very affordable, great housing stock, international airport, close to New York, close to DC, close to Philly. It’s like, it’s wonderful. I love this city. I will be here for the foreseeable future. It’s like, I could see myself having like a career as a working musician living here.
I don’t know how I would do it if I lived in New York or LA. It’s just too much money, I don’t know. The Mid-Atlantic is great, and it’s also pretty liberal – Maryland, I would put it right up there with California in terms of its laws and Black governor, Black mayors, women in Congress, our senators… it’s very liberal, good jobs, a lot of cities, a lot of places to live, affordable.
You began introducing songs off this album last spring with “Lie 95,” and that's still one of my favorite songs off the record. Why did you opt to release that track first?
Bartees Strange: Oh, I don’t know. I liked it! I think the hook is great. And I was like, it’s short and really tight. And I was like, oh, this song is just a great track. I mean, if I was gonna put out something and kind of try to get some attention on it and try to reintroduce what I’m doing, I think this is a really good first song for that. And, yeah, it’s a song that’s basically about, it’s like a ode to the mid Atlantic, honestly. I mean, I-95, and it’s, yeah, so I love it, regional rock banger.
Then came “Sober.” That song is a lightning rod of emotion. The line, “that's why it's hard to be sober,” rings especially deep. I'm wondering if you could talk a little more about that song, and what it means to you?
Bartees Strange: Yeah, I mean, it’s really a, really tough song. I mean, I am… Every time, it’s hard for me to listen to that song sometimes. I mean, it’s basically a song about being in a relationship too long. And really just not feeling like you’re doing right by you or by them. And it’s just like, and you can’t get out. And it’s, I wrote it in the middle of the pandemic. And it was real pandemic love story, you really can’t get out, you’re in an apartment together, but it was, as you’re trying to navigate this feeling of being stuck in something you’re trying to get out of, you’re then trying to drink through it in a way, it’s hard to be sober, it’s hard to just sit with all of that and hold it. Like you need to just kind of have a drink and just have a cigarette and take a walk. It’s like, it’s more about that than like, oh, let’s go get hammered ’cause life is hard. It’s more like, this shit is tough, man. Like, you’re just in your own head all the time, just have a seat, have a drink, try again.
You really wrote some good poetry on this one, too. Beyond the big statement of the choruses, “I'm standing here in between the lines 'cause I've never had a guiding light.” And then later, “I lived life on two planes and most days, they're both delayed.” That one just hit to the chest.
Bartees Strange: Yeah, it’s hard to live two lives when you’re with somebody, it doesn’t last long, eventually, it comes out. It’s just, you can’t, it’s hard, you can’t not be your full self with people that you need to be in your life. That’s kind of what that’s about. It’s like eventually, it just kind of runs out, you run out of running room.
I live life on two planes, and most days they’re both delayed
Missing all your phone calls, I just want to go away
When you’re not near me, every song’s a throwaway
Reminds me of my through lines, some curses just generate
Our difference is astounding, running out of things to say
I’m just trying to show love scared of being cliché
Sometimes I miss the boat,
sometimes I make mistakes
I’m texting that I’m on my way,
know that you don’t wanna wait
So when you know
When you know it’s right
When a day becomes your whole life
I’m standing here, in between the lines
Guess I’ve never had a guiding light
That’s why it’s hard to be sober
It's not lost on me that this album is coming out on Valentine’s Day. How intentional is that timing? Can we also talk about the track “Lovers” at the same time? On the surface, at least, that song feels like a Valentine's gift.
Bartees Strange: Oh, dude, yeah, it is a gift. That’s a, I love that song. So yeah, Valentine’s Day release, I just don’t like Valentine’s Day, and I love Halloween, and I love scary stuff. And I was like, well, let’s just do Valentine’s Day my way, which would be to put out a record called Horror just to give me something else to do. “Lovers” is a song about falling in love with someone you didn’t think you would, and how fun that is. And it’s a little ‘I’m dangerous’ love song. It’s fun, I like it.
I love house music and I love making beats, and I feel like people think of me as a guitar driven person, but I think most of my friends are probably like, oh, yeah, Bartees is just making beats. I make beats all the time. And then I write a couple songs on guitar, and I’m like, oh, I should sing these. Maybe one day I’ll just make a mixtape or something.
“Lovers” is definitely the most down-that-alley song you've got on this record. It's a beautiful slap in the face in the middle of the album. Like, hey, you still paying attention? We're gonna wake you up right now.
Bartees Strange: Yes. I mean, that was the point of it too. It’s like, the record runs right into that moment in such a, I think, beautiful way. I really like it.
Meanwhile, one of my personal favorite songs on the album, aside from what we talked about, is “Norf Gun.” I just feel like it's this hypnotic fever dream that keeps pushing the listener until its conclusion. Do you have any definitive favorites or personal highlights of Horror?
Bartees Strange: I think “Backseat Banton” is one of my favorite songs on the record, just because it’s one of my favorite endings of a record I’ve ever made. And I just love the story of Horror and finding yourself and not knowing where to land, and am I doing life right? Dot, dot, dot, and then you have this song, which is so like, I figured it out. It’s a very definitive ending and a great conclusion. I love how the song ends.
“17,” I think, is a special song to me. I do love that song. It was really special to make. I’ve been playing it for a couple years now. And I think figuring, landing on that production was really hard. Took me a really long time to figure out how I wanted it to sound. There’s a lot of versions of it, and I still don’t know if I like it. And I think that’s why I like it.
One of my favorite artists, Leif Vollebekk, put out an album last year called Revelation. And he released two additional versions of one of the songs on that album because he couldn't decide which he liked the best. It's not quite Life of Pablo level, where you're completely putting out a new album, but why be satisfied just because ‘this is the version that made the cut’?
Bartees Strange: Man, I think about that. I’m always like, should I just put out the other versions? And then sometimes I’m like, well, I kind of like that it’s ugly, I like the mistake. I like looking at it and being like, cool. Well, let’s try again next time. It’s nice to have an ending. But who knows? There’s so many versions of this record, I swear to God, worked on this record for years. There’s so many songs. There are songs on this record that were five seconds of a different song that I liked so much that I made a full song of. And the other song I just threw away, so it’s like, it was insane. It’s like a hack job, just whatever, it was crazy.
I think about that sometimes, you can either choose to be the artist who has a very clean catalog, and this is the definitive version of the album, and you can save all those extras for the box set in 50 years' time, if we're all still here. Or let the people hear the music, and follow your gut!
Bartees Strange: Yeah, who knows? We’ll see. Life is long.
At the same time, you showed a couple favorite songs. The lyrical content on this record is obviously pretty intense and very personal to you. Do you have any favorite lyrics on these songs?
Bartees Strange: I think “Baltimore” is my best lyrically written song I’ve ever done, I would say, “Baltimore” and “Sober,” those two songs, I’m like, I was like, yeah, I’m getting better, I’m getting better at this, thank God, ’cause writing lyrics is something that’s really hard for me. I’m very much a melody and rhythmic person. I can come up with melodies for days, drums, guitars, productions, I can do that. But when it comes time for me to write words, I’m just kind of freestyling and then finding things I like. But this was the first time that I was like, I’m writing a song about where I want to live, I’m writing a song about how hard this relationship is.
I’m writing, and that’s also why it took me so long to finish the record. I really wanted to actually say something. And so “Baltimore,” I felt like I got into this. It’s like reading like Philip Roth or something, “Backyard bluejays so my girl’s not alone and a lake that freezes over,” it’s just all these pastoral literature kind of vibe happening, Andrew Marvell vibes. So that was so fun to write that way and know that I could do that, and it was fun, yeah, and challenging. So I’m really proud of those two songs, “Baltimore” and “Sober.”
I had a feeling that “Baltimore” might be one of them. Stepping back and zooming out, can you describe this record in three words?
Bartees Strange: Super dark times.
Super dark times; I'll take it. Speaking of, what do you hope listeners take away from Horror? And what have you taken away from creating it and now putting it out?
Bartees Strange: I hope that listeners hear it. The real goal of my music is by deconstructing genre, it’s really deconstructing barriers that separate all of us. It’s like country music, rap music, pop music, jazz, these are all different groups of people, and I want all those people in the same room. That’s what I would love. And so this record is kind of trying to do that through talking about the things that we’re all afraid of. Like these are my personal fears, but no two or three people are that different. And I think that a lot of people can relate to some of the things that I am afraid of as well. And I think something that makes people feel less afraid is when they realize everyone else is too.
And so that’s what my dream with this record would be, is for people to hear it and feel like, oh, I’m not the only one that thinks about that all the time, or I’m not the only one that is trying to figure out this big life question that keeps coming up every few years that I just can’t seem to get, it’s like, that would be something I’d love to see happen, for sure. And things that I learned making the record, it’s like, I’ve, for one, being right never healed a thing. It’s like, you can know what’s right and know what to do and if you don’t do it, it doesn’t matter if you knew it, it’s like, you know what I’m saying? Like life is so complicated, so much more complicated than a song. And you try to boil things down into it but the song is just like the first step, I had to do other work to be a better person.
And I continue to do that. And then I think also, it’s like sometimes you got to let it all hang out. Like I try to like, you try to put on a face and be like, I’m an artist, I’m like, this is my life and da, da, da. But it’s like, I’m just a person that is trying to figure stuff out like everybody else and I’m no better. And so this record, I feel like is that, it’s me being extremely human and kind of ugly at times. Going from a feeling like “Sober” to a song like “Norf Gun,” it’s two completely different characters. But I feel both of those things. It’s like, they’re going from like “Too much” to “Lovers.” It’s like, those are feelings I feel even though they’re so far from each other. And I feel like everyone is like that in their own way. So I didn’t want to limit it to just one version of me. I wanted it to just be like, this is all of it, and I’m sorry.
In the spirit of paying it forward, who are you listening to these days that you would recommend to our readers? Who's on your 2025 ‘artists to watch’ list?
Bartees Strange: Oh, dang, I’m really bad at this because like, I mean, I will find a couple records and just rinse the hell out of them. Like I’ll just listen to them all year. One of those records was “Tank” by Idols. And it’s not because it’s their best record, it’s because I think it’s their bravest. I think that it’s really cool that the best punk band in the world decided to make like a, something weird at a time when they could have just doubled down. They know what their fans want and they could have just gave it to them. But they hooked up with Nigel Godrich and Kenny Beats and made like art, like real art. And I’m like, I don’t even know these guys. I’m like proud of them. I’m like, wow, so brave to try this. People don’t… Not everyone likes it. I think that’s why I love it. It’s like, they knew that was going to happen and I just, I love that band, I admire them.
Another artist I would recommend is Arooj Aftab. She’s like an experimental jazz artist from New York. I’ve been watching Arooj play for the last 10 years. I mean, I lived in New York. I remember seeing her band play and it was like, I don’t, I’ve never even said the word spellbinding, but that shit was different. And I was like, I feel like I just watched Meshell Ndegeocello play or some ethereal creature, like some shit that doesn’t happen, you know? And to see them get so much recognition and rise in like their space has just been so inspiring. And I will continue to listen to their music. And another artist that I would say is similar to that is Jeff Parker. He’s someone that I admire so deeply as a musician and a collaborator and a band leader and a songwriter and a player. And I just think that nobody, there are a few people with so much intention that write music like him. So big fan, big fan of his. Also, Arm and Hammer, everything they do I think is special. Those guys do music their own way. I could go on and on, but those are a few – I’ll stop there.
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“Backseat Banton” – Bartees Strange
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© Elizabeth De La Piedra
© Elizabeth De La PiedraHorror
an album by Bartees Strange
