After the tragic loss of Strange Boutique’s seminal guitarist Fred “Freak” Smith, bandmates Monica Richards and Steve Willett reunited to play a show in his honor. Despite more than two decades since their final performance at the original Black Cat in Washington, D.C., playing together again felt like more than a one-night special event.
The next day, the two sat down and discussed the overall joy felt the night before. Being on stage made them happy. Dennis Kane, who had been a friend and protégé of Smith’s, took extra care of the songs with his own guitar playing. The audience seemed genuinely thrilled to see these songs shared in a live environment again. The band came to the same conclusion: they were more than ready to make new music together.
Kane and Willett wrote and recorded demos in D.C. before sending them to Richards in California, who in turn would send back lyrical and melodic sketches of what she wanted to add.
“It was a thrill to hear what she would add to the demo,” Willett said. “It was always the icing on the cake.”
Two years of writing, recording and working around one another’s schedules proved that this was meant to be. Willett said that it was magical and rewarding to have new music that still sounds like Strange Boutique. It was a sound that could not be replicated with their other musical endeavors, yet it was so easy to slip back into. It felt completely natural.
“If we learned anything from the experience I’d say it’s that when we feel our feet are to the fire, we can dance,” Willett said.
“I felt very happy about [Strange Boutique’s return], and I know Fred would feel happy and proud if he was here,” Richards added.
Their most proud moment during the creation process was watching the string quartet give the songs an entirely new sound. They had initially decided to add strings to “Under Surface”, a song that they felt was unusual for them and needed to step outside their comfort zone of bass/drums/guitar. Kane wrote the score, which led to the decision that it would make sense to add strings to more than one song.
“The day in the studio with the string section was such a positive experience,” Willett said. “A minute into the first take, all the anxiety and questions about whether or not it would work just disappeared. Hearing the string section do their parts for the first time was so incredible; they added so much depth and extra color. It really brought those songs to life. Suddenly, they just worked in a way they hadn’t before.”
When Richards heard the final mixes, she knew they were onto something. She always writes lyrics with an overarching theme or story, yet this time she went with how it felt to listen to the album all the way through.
“Doing a track listing takes time to feel the rhythm, the highs and lows,” she said. “Not a linear story exactly, but how it feels in the gut.”
When Willett sent Richards the first demo of what would become “Whistle, And I Will Come To You”, her first take at a vocal melody was powerful. Willett said that it seemed to express a sense of hope and defiance and desperation. Being one of the last songs written for the album, it felt like the most natural way to close it out. When he first heard the lyric, “let the lonely heart sing”, he knew they had their album title.
Let The Lonely Heart Sing is being heard in a much different time than its predecessor, The Kindest Worlds. Long gone are the days filled with less technology and more tangibility. However, the global connection has given an underground band a larger chance of being discovered.
“People feel they have discovered us on their own, and they connect to our songs,” Richards said. “It makes it all feel timeless, in a way. The current scene, standing in front of kids who have discovered us recently and are SO into it! That makes me very happy!”
Strange Boutique has seen the resurgence of post-punk and goth-rock, and felt that it was their time to reunite. Let The Lonely Heart Sing explores ghostly themes of love and loss, childlike wonder, echoes from the past and a deep hope for the future; a future that feels all the more promising.
