Scarves - Strays Forever (Indie Exclusive Sky Blue Vinyl)

Indie Exclusive Cloudy Sky Blue Vinyl

This independent-store pressing of Strays Forever is a single LP on cloudy sky blue vinyl from Tender Loving Empire. It is the fourth album by Scarves, the Seattle band led by singer and songwriter Niko Stathakopoulos, whose catalog runs from the 2014 debut Empty Houses to Delicate Creatures in 2022. The lineup here is Stathakopoulos and Nessa Grasing on vocals and guitar, Jesse Cohen on bass, Jacob Whinihan on drums and Elijah Sokolow on guitar and production.

Chris Walla produced the album at Hall of Justice in Seattle, the studio he ran from 2000 to 2005 and rebuilt after moving back to the city in 2012. Walla played guitar in Death Cab for Cutie from 1997 to 2014 and produced most of their records in that time, Transatlanticism and Narrow Stairs among them. Under the Radar lists the tools of these sessions as Speak & Spell toys run through arpeggiators, live takes with no click track, flute, strings and tape manipulation.

The Line of Best Fit describes the record as a loose concept album following a couple through grief, anxiety and plans for parenthood. Stathakopoulos has said he wanted it to feel "grand yet cozy, glitchy but homey." Of "We Should Get A Dog," he said: "Sometimes you love someone so much you want to pull them away from their terrible job, their terrible city, and go start a little family on a farm in the middle of nowhere."

Singles ahead of the album were "Self Soothing," which opens side A, "Hey!," the title track and "We Should Get A Dog." The band has played support slots with PUP, Deerhoof and The Dodos.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Self Soothing
2. Marionettes
3. Hey!
4. Strays Forever
5. Sour Things

Side B

6. Berlin
7. Chainsaw
8. We Should Get A Dog
9. Keep You Warm
10. Skeletons And Swords