Being in a band is a lot like being in a relationship. There are great times. There are times when you fight, but at the end of the day, you really do care about each other, and what you’re building together. So it’s fitting that a couple years back The Black and White Years‘ singer and songwriter Scott Butler asked his wife Adrienne if she would sing on a track he was working on. Fast-forward to 2013, and that song just happens to be the first single to their upcoming Danny Reisch-produced LP Strange Figurines.
The new record is their first long-player since 2010’s Patterns. That record found The Black and White Years moving closer and closer to a heavier, more electronic sound. Their 2008 self-titled was an unabashedly fun affair, full of whip-smart, dance-floor-ready rock tunes. The record provided a radio hit in “Power to Change.” They followed the self-titled up the next year with the Nursery Myths EP, a record that nicely bridged the sounds found on The Black and White Years and Patterns.
Now, after almost three years, The Black and White Years are back in a big way with Strange Figurines. Appropriately, the song I hinted at up top is called “Just Like Old Times.” There’s a wistfulness in Adrienne Butler’s delivery–which makes the song extra apropos. Her lovely vocals contrast nicely with the sparse electronics and heavy beats that open the song, and when the song kicks into mid-tempo new wave mode, they fit like a glove, and feels as natural as love.
You’ll probably get to hear “Just Like Old Times” plus more tunes from the new record tonight when The Black and White Years play Stubb’s.
