Intimate and all-consuming, Armlock’s soul-stirring “Strobe” is a heartfelt meditation on presence, connection, and the quiet moments that matter most – a softly seductive minimalist masterpiece that aches in all the right places.
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Stream: “Strobe” – Armlock
I take a big sip, pull my shoulders back, trade the blue chip, we made a blood pact as a form of love…
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There’s a quiet magic pulsing through Armlock’s “Strobe” – a kind of understated intensity that slowly envelops the senses, drawing you deep into the song’s soft, glistening glow.
Hypnotic and hushed, raw and radiant, the Australian band’s latest single feels like a memory – fleeting and yet eternal, flickering in and out of view like headlights on a late-night drive… or the hazy warmth of someone you love laughing on the other end of the phone. Dozens (upon dozens) of listens in, this track continues to move and mystify me. It’s unvarnished, it’s aching, it’s immersive in the most gentle and genuine way.
In its softness lies something truly beautiful… something that stirs the ears, the heart, and the soul.
I take a big sip
Pull my shoulders back
Trade the blue chip
We made a blood pact
As a form of love…
It’s been a leashed year
Kept it on the rails I feel it shift gear
Breathe in and exhale
Isn’t it wonderful…
Because
Released on May 1st via Run for Cover Records, “Strobe” is Melbourne-based indie rock duo Armlock’s first single since releasing their sophomore album Seashell Angel Lucky Charm in 2024, and it feels like both a continuation and a reintroduction – a small evolution, subtle but intentional. Written while touring across Europe and the US, the song became a live-testing ground for new ideas: A chance for Armlock – comprised of Simon Lam and Hamish Mitchell – to refine what they do best while pushing into new sonic territory.
“We feel it’s refining what we already do but also pushing it into slightly different territory,” Armlock tell Atwood Magazine. “We’re constantly trying to come up with a new feeling within our songs, but trying to present it in its most pure and simplest form.”
“The guitar part was actually inspired by some 2000s progressive house tracks. They way they structure chord progressions is really different to the way you’d usually structure chords in a guitar band, so we wanted to play off that idea. We listen to a lot of rap, and that influenced the vocal melody for sure – just using the same few notes and letting the chords create the colour. We actually tried so many different layers in the production, but we found most of the time it would make the song less immediate or would distract from the lyrics. If we’re on the fence about a sound we just get rid of it, and we’re really picky, so it ends up so minimal.”
That minimalism gives “Strobe” its emotional power.
The song’s climax – “That’s my friend on the phone / We’ve been laughing all day / That’s my dad out the front / Think we kinda look the same…” – is disarmingly personal and deeply moving, offered like a Polaroid from someone’s life. “I guess it’s like taking someone on a mini tour of my life,” Lam says. “Like driving around and pointing and saying ‘this is the shit that matters most to me.’ And none of it’s really grand or anything, but it’s all awesome.”
That’s my friend on the phone
We’ve been laughing all day
That’s my dad out the front
Think we kinda look the same
She’s the one, number one
Never wanted me to change
Take a lap, cut the chicane
And we do it all again
Even the song’s title hints at that tension between outward shine and inward calm. “It was just taken from one of the lyrics,” they note. “We like how it almost doesn’t suit the song, but alludes to some of the underlying intensity.”
Lam sees that line, “I’m a strobe, blinding eyes with the glow,” as a kind of metaphor for life on the road: “The lyrics kind of touch on the feeling of being off then on, shining but intermittently. Playing shows on a tour kind of feels like that – you give the best version of yourself for the set, then you switch off again until the next one.”
I play it face down
It’s got two and two
I skip the headcheck
Do what I gotta do
Just leave it on the floor…
Infinite, it’s all riding on this
No scoping, heat seeking, we can’t miss
I’m a strobe, blinding eyes with the glow
Because
That off-and-on rhythm echoes throughout the song – in its softly flickering guitars, its near-whispered vocals, and its meditative refrain. It’s a song rooted in the real: In friends and fathers, in phone calls and porch steps, in the people who ground us when the rest of the world won’t stop spinning.
“We just hope people like it, makes them feel good,” Armlock share. “Maybe it reminds someone of their own friends and family. It’s a weirdly positive song for us, but we think we’re down for doing more like this.”
Maybe that’s what keeps me coming back to “Strobe” – why I’ve listened to it so many times, and still can’t quite put my finger on what makes it hit so hard.
It’s not just the warmth or the softness, the ache or the glow; it’s the fact that this song feels lived-in. It feels like a familiar smile; it feels like a hug. It feels real. It feels like it means everything to Armlock – and in that vulnerability, in that gentle intensity, it ends up meaning everything to me, too. It’s everything all at once.
That’s my friend on the phone
We’ve been laughing all day
That’s my dad out the front
Think we kinda look the same
She’s the one, number one
So be careful what you say
Take a lap, cut the chicane
And we do it all again
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Stream: “Strobe” – Armlock
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© Phoebe Cockburn
© Phoebe Cockburn
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