STRFKR have released their new track “Tape Machine”, which will be featured on the band’s forthcoming full-length album, Being No One, Going Nowhere. The album will be available on November 4th via Polyvinyl Records.

The album opens on “Tape Machine.” On 2013’s ‘Miracle Mile,’ STRFKR refined a full-band sound, but this doubles down on and completely reimagines the project’s electronic and pop roots. The initial synths could fuel a rave, and the ensuing groove could score a Drive sequel, but the song is richer still, with cosmic effects flying overhead and a psych-folk earthiness below. It isn’t that the band sat this LP out—drummer (etc.) Keil Corcoran penned the thick astral disco of “In the End,” and he and bassist (etc.) Shawn Glassford both pitch in throughout. But ‘Being No One, Going Nowhere’ was born in Joshua Tree after Hodges packed up his Los Angeles apartment and moved to that tiny Mojave outpost under the great big sky. It came together for me in the desert,” he says. “Out there, it’s easy to feel small and slow.”

When Hodges started STRFKR in 2007, it was designed to be success-proof. The name was both unfit for radio and a jab at fame-chasers. But the project was also meant to be bright, playful and brimming with energy. He stumbled upon a winning juxtaposition that’s a STRFKR staple to this day: dark (or heavy) lyrics set to happy music. Hodges credits that to Elliott Smith’s influence, although ‘Being No One, Going Nowhere’ has closer sonic kin in Italo-disco, kosmische musik and Tony Hoffer’s work with Phoenix, Beck and M83. English thinker/writer Alan Watts, a scholar of Eastern philosophy, was another muse for Hodges—his voice appears on nearly every STRFKR release, including this one. That’s him on “interspace,” talking about sloughing off preconceived identity to find one’s place in the universe, which is the story of Hodges’ eventual career: stop trying—no, start not trying—and succeed.

The album’s name actually paraphrases the title of a book by Ayya Khema, a Buddhist nun, but the concept came to Hodges in a less chaste setting during an experience at a BDSM club. In a way, each song on ‘Being No One, Going Nowhere’ seeks to harness the idea of realizing pain sometimes acts as a gateway to freedom, allowing you to let go of your mind and stress. There’s the reality-refracting fantasy of “Never Ever,” the hard truths about addiction’s ravages on “Tape Machine,” a death-defying coming of age tale on “Open Your Eyes,” and references to Hermann Hesse’s 1919 novel of self-realization, Demian, on “When I’m With You.” If the words don’t set you free, the music—exuberant, enveloping, incredibly catchy—should do so handily.

STRFKR Tour Dates:

WED 2 NOVEMBER – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA
THU 3 NOVEMBER – Saturn Birmingham – Birmingham, AL
FRI 4 NOVEMBER – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX
SAT 5 NOVEMBER – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX
SUN 6 NOVEMBER – Sound On Sound Fest 2016 – Bastrop, TX
WED 9 NOVEMBER – The Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
THU 10 NOVEMBER – The Observatory North Park – San Diego, CA
FRI 11 NOVEMBER – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
SAT 12 NOVEMBER – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
MON 14 NOVEMBER – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
TUE 15 NOVEMBER – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
THU 17 NOVEMBER – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO
FRI 18 NOVEMBER – Vega – Lincoln, NE
SAT 19 NOVEMBER – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
SUN 20 NOVEMBER – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
MON 21 NOVEMBER – Bell’s Eccentric Café – Kalamazoo, MI
TUE 22 NOVEMBER – The Crofoot Ballroom – Pontiac, MI
WED 23 NOVEMBER – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON, Canada
THU 24 NOVEMBER – Théâtre Fairmount – Montreal, QC, Canada
FRI 25 NOVEMBER – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
SAT 26 NOVEMBER – Webster Hall – New York, NY
SUN 27 NOVEMBER – Royale – Boston, MA
TUE 29 NOVEMBER – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
WED 30 NOVEMBER – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
FRI 2 DECEMBER – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
SAT 3 DECEMBER – Exit/In – Nashville, TN