For William Alexander, the songs presented on Strangest Things could have very well become a musical oddity – an undoubtedly brilliant yet unearthed collection of finely crafted pop classics. Until now, the album had been quarantined for nearly five years. For reasons both within and beyond his control, Alexander is only now prepared to release Strangest Things, a collection a warped, loop-based songs that are both blooming and cerebral.

 

With “Giant Fade,” his first single from Strangest Things, Under The Radar describes it as “a slightly askew lo-fi pop gem.” Alexander explains, “’Giant Fade’ was written at the tail end of a pretty horrible PA job I was working while living in Hollywood. It was for some Italian cellphone commercial staring George Clooney and everything kept going wrong on set. Whenever that's the case the shit always trickles down to the PA's. I was super frustrated with the Assistant Director, who was a total B, and decided to get it all out in the most cathartic way possible and pen a song about her and the experience. The old 'When life hands you lemons' method. I feel like ‘Giant Fade’ comes off as a romance crisis but really it's just about a shitty job. By the way, George Clooney was incredibly nice and a real professional. It doesn't hurt that he's pretty easy on the eyes too."

 

Shedding his former solo moniker, The Meanest Boys, he aims to cleanse the past as he dreams into a more direct future. And while many of these songs may be relics in his mind, they are as purposeful and immediate as ever – a true testament to his pop writing prowess. Recorded in his Fullerton, CA bedroom, these dusted songs are kaleidoscopic prisms constantly in motion, grounded by hip-hop indebted beats and stoned atmospherics. And floating somewhere above it all are Alexander’s haunting vocals, which usually seem to be either coming from another room or disintegrating into nothing.

 

Over the course of the album, he has a way of sounding effortless, cool, apathetic, patient, and fed up all in the same breadth. Strangest Things is a dazed, weirdo pop record in a (hang) loose sense, but its strengths lie in its singular and unique delivery. Yellow K Records and Forged Artifacts are honored to be co-releasing Alexander’s future classic to the world.

 

photo by Jon Montgomery