With Strange Land, Alex Schaaf has attempted a complete makeover. The Yellow Ostrich main man garnered a bit of buzz last year when Barsuk reissued his debut bedroom production The Mistress. Now, with a record company backing the recording of his new album, the Wisconsin native has brought in a couple of young guns (one of whom, drummer Michael Tapper, has played with We Are Scientists and Bishop Allen, among others) to round out the sound and maybe turn Yellow Ostrich into an actual band. It’s something that’s often attempted by four-track pop savants who find themselves suddenly having to replicate their basement tinkering in front of a paying audience. Like Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi earlier this year, Schaaf emerged from his first major round of touring with a seasoned, powerful group behind him and a desire to develop material that would take full advantage of its capabilities.
The band has said in interviews that the new record was highly influenced by the post-punk classics they’d been listening to on the tour bus. On “The Shakedown,” at least until the vocals come in, you might mistake the minimal, stabbing guitar and bleep-bloop bass for an outtake from Wire’s Chairs Missing. Interestingly, though, the song quickly takes another direction, as the verse melody drifts into a minor key and the off-beat drums propel into a nicely cathartic middle section.
If “The Shakedown” is any indication, it looks like Schaaf made the right move in filling things out. The fuller sound is a definite improvement, if not as mind-blowingly out-of-nowhere as Cloud Nothings’ re-emergence in January. Still, the more lush arrangement is a good fit for Schaff’s general style. This is a solid, promising track.