In The Dark

Description

Mick Strauss is bringing together two EPs on an exclusive vinyl: *In the Dark* (2024) and *Southern Wave Night Birds* (2023). A traveling soul for over forty years, Strauss has always roamed far and wide, his curiosity piqued by new encounters and cultures. It was one of these journeys that shaped the sound and stories of his debut album, *Southern Wave* – six months traveling through the heart of the United States, his maternal homeland. In 2023, he revisited 6 tracks from this album in an acoustic version (guitar, piano, violin, cello, double bass, drums) on the EP *Southern Wave Night Birds*. In 2024, between his collaborations with Astéréotypie (a band for which he composes and plays bass) and his sound creations for circus or dance theater, Arthur B. Gillette donned his Mick Strauss hat again and released *In the Dark*, a new five-track EP, accompanied on the B-side of the vinyl by 5 tracks from *Southern Wave Night Birds*. *In the Dark* is a collection of strange-folk-DIY songs crafted in an attic in Douarnenez. *In the Dark* ventures towards the shores of a divergent folk, at once romantic, harsh, and funny. This time, Mick Strauss places his voice and stories at the center of the songs. The embellishments are reduced, and in their place, we find a stunning and rudimentary string section with warm timbres. Mick Strauss reminds us of Lou Reed but also Jonathan Richman, Neil Young, Skip Spence, Bill Callahan, and even echoes of a song that Dolly Parton or Lucio Battisti might have written.