George Veech and Jessica Anderly, the duo that make up Strangled Darlings, have an edgy approach to folk and Americana. Veech’s voice has similar harsh effects to Modest Mouse’s Issac Brock, whereas Anderly’s contributed vocals are much smoother. Strangled Darlings’ Red Yellow & Blue flows more like a collection of short stories than a general album of songs, which made for an interesting listen. The band’s unique style and sound easily can captivate listeners, especially with their dark feel. Strangled Darlings provide a fun, yet groovy spin on classic nursery rhymes and fairytales during “Salt Shaker.” The song is catchy yet slightly disturbing with the whiny fiddle as well as Veech’s almost maniacal tone. “Rider” features sharp harmonies between Veech and Anderly as well as a jazzy piano and bass ending.
Strangled Darlings takes acting a role to a new extreme during “J. Howard Marshall.” The up-tempo banjo fueled cut features a high pitched and odd vocal performance, which diversifies the album. A bouncy and bassy instrumental piece, “Mr. Love” snaps Red Yellow & Blue back to some variation of normal (or as normal as Strangled Darlings could get). The disc begins to come to a close with “Done Been Shown.” The trombone heavy piece has a strong show tune feel to it, making Strangled Darlings a jack of all trades. The final song, “Wolf Spider” is the slowest and deepest sounding on Red Yellow & Blue. The finale shows off Veech’s raw voice sans all the over-exaggerating, as well as more of Anderly’s bluesy, yet soft spoken, voice. Overall, Strangled Darlings certainly has one of the more interesting sounds that I’ve heard in a while.
