The Daily Spin, December 30
RAC | Strangers
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite songs from each album right here.
Album: Strangers (2014)
Artist: RAC
Link:
For the longest time, I was kinda skeptical of RAC’s solo work. The long form of his name is, after all, the Remix Artist Collective (a artifact of the era when RAC was a group, rather than the solo venture Andre Anjos now commands) - and his remixes, while fantastic, didn’t really give me a great deal of insight into who Anjos was as his own artist.
Then, one night in college (circa 2015, early 2016, so freshman year), I was browsing YouTube trying to find new music, and I happened upon one of his songs - ‘Back Of The Car’, a single released before Strangers - and I was immediately and almost violently hooked.
Since then, he’s rocketed to my number 2 artist on standalone material, trailing only ODESZA (and if you count his remixes, he’s comfortably first). I’ve been introduced to Noah Kahan, Classixx, Bob Moses, and countless others through his work - not even touching what he’s done with artists I’m already familiar with. His catalogue of indie luminaries that he pulls from is endless and built like the Miracle on Ice team - scrappy underdogs that’ll get the job done.
Strangers builds on that premise better than any of his other works - sure, EGO is a frankly incredible body throughout, but as a debut, I think Strangers strikes truer than just about any other album.
From the very beginning - literally, ‘Let Go’ is still my favorite RAC song of all-time and on the very small shortlist of my favorite songs ever made - the album captivates, indie production that never really gets too intense but still carries all the emotional weight of a shredded rock anthem.
Where Strangers shines is in its ability to adapt to each vocalist while still remaining singularly RAC in its sound - something that’s missing from his remixes and that BOY badly missed on - but this album takes each feature, builds them up, and holds them there while allowing RAC’s rock-tinged synths and simple percussive beats to march forward - so the entire album develops this super cohesive sound that still bounces from Penguin Prison to Bloc Party’s Kele to Anjos’ own ex-wife (Pink Feathers).
It doesn’t always hit - this isn’t quite like EGO, a sweeping arrangement, a tidal wave of sound that carries from beginning to end - but this is truly fantastic debut album from an artist that has continued to grow into one of my all-time favorites, and it’s an honor to be able to talk about an album like this.
Rating: 9.5/10
Best Tracks: Let Go; Hollywood; We Belong; Cheap Sunglasses
Worst Tracks: Seventeen