User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
- Summary: The follow-up to their 2009 debut full-length sees a new lineup, with Mika Miko's Jenna Thornhill and Seth Densham joining, while Darker My Love's Tim Presley also appears on this release.
- Record Label: In The Red
- Genre(s): Indie, Rock
- More Details and Credits »
Top Track
| Be Brave | |
|---|---|
| I walked away* From everyone I know I looked around and thought This must be what it's like to be alone When it's bet on me I want to grow old I bend... | See the rest of the song lyrics |
Powered by
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 12 out of 16
-
Mixed: 4 out of 16
-
Negative: 0 out of 16
-
Strange Boys are not revivalists, and they're not out of touch. Instead, they offer exactly the kind of rock 'n' roll slap in the face we need in this angular, post-modern 2010. The garage hasn't sounded this good in a long time.
-
Be Brave doesn’t live up to the rambunctious energy and junkyard swagger of the band’s debut LP, And Girls Club, but instead offers more subdued moments that allow Sambol’s frontman personality to transcend the clatter.
-
There’s an intriguing, never pandering, blend of genres on Be Brave–from soul to blues to modern day indie rock-packaged as Texas blues–making the record a more interesting listen each time around.
-
With songs like “All You Can Hide Inside” revealing a flair for rough-around-the-edges ballads, Be Brave shows that the Strange Boys are growing--not in a self-consciously “mature” way, but enough to make them more than just purveyors of raffish garage rock.
-
Be Brave is a stoic affair, but it's no slump. A happy medium still lies ahead.
-
UncutRyan Sambol, with his nasal drawl and ready harmonica, is perhaps rather too into Dylan for comfort, but the title track is dispatched with skronky brio, and "The Unsent Letter" is a heartfelt piano ballad all cracked with emotion. [Apr 2010, p.100]
-
So while the consistency isn’t there yet, if they even do get there, this new direction could take them far.
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 0 out of
-
Mixed: 0 out of
-
Negative: 0 out of