The Horrors - Strange House

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The Horrors - She is the New Thing

She's a special girl you know, the kind I'd hope to seeHanging on a wall, watching me cross the streets

I wonder how long it will be before I'm sick of herAnd I no longer care where she goes or has been

'Cause she is the new thing, but she is the new thingShe is a new thing, but she is a new thing

She is a new thingShe is a new thing, another new thingFeel my stomach sink as I curse my slow limbsShe is a new thing, always a new thingStaring at her, ulterior girl

Once she had me on my knees, enamored with diseaseNow, she fails to impress a different sicknessA different kind of sickness, lacking any interest

And I, sunk in apathy, totally absorbed in meSitting vacant on my own, my senses lying cold

She was a new thing, she was a new thingShe was a new thing, another new thingAnother new thing, another new thing

She was a new thing, another new thingFeel my stomach sink as I curse my slow limbsShe was a new thing, always a new thingStaring at her, ulterior girlI cast myself into whatever she brings, another new

With sickness, it ends how it beginsFirst mine then hers and then the cycle blursAnd my actions reoccur through no fault of my ownThrough no fault of my own, through no fault of my ownThrough no fault of my own

Another new thing, another new thingAnother new thing, another new

Review by Heather Phares

On their singles and EPs, the Horrors proved they'd done their post-punk and freakbeat homework. With their debut album, Strange House, they push their sound forward, distill it to its rawest essence, and give it a few funhouse mirror twists and turns for good measure. Almost half of the songs on the album already appeared on previous Horrors releases, but the ever-so-slightly cleaner production here gives more definition to their black-on-black sound. The band kicks off Strange House by revisiting their cover of Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack the Ripper," which begins at a zombie-slow pace, then suddenly speeds up halfway through, transforming into a hurtling roller coaster of a song that makes a great introduction to Strange House's mix of campy humor, energy, and menace. With its dive-bombing noise barely held together by Faris Badwan's shouting and the faintest hint of a melody, "Sheena Is a Parasite" is still the Horrors' best and most radical song, although several other tracks here rival its black-hearted thrills. Once again, Spider Webb's vicious keyboards are the band's not-so-secret weapon, especially on the fantastic, strutting "She Is the New Thing," which blurs the line between girls and trends, flings and boredom, with macabre flair. On Strange House's wildest tracks, the Horrors channel their idol Joe Meek's love of wild sounds. "Thunderclaps" grafts galloping rhythms, twangy guitars, and chanted backing vocals together, Frankenstein-style, while "Little Victories" brandishes noisy onslaughts and turns them off just as quickly. The very end of the album gets even weirder and more deconstructed: "Gil Sleeping"'s woozy organs and jazzy drumming and "A Train Roars"' ominous, loping rhythms show thatthe Horrors are committed to pushing the boundaries of their sound, even if these experiments aren't quite as immediate as their more song-based work. the Horrors are unabashedly arty and stylish, but they're a great example of the kind of art-school band that lurks in the shadows of British rock (and of which there have been too few in the 2000s). If you like what the Horrors do, then Strange House is an album that can never be loud enough.

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